Nutrition status was evaluated in 19 children aged 4 to 65 months who received total parenteral nutrition as their only source of nutrition (nine patients, group 1) or who ingested 30% to 70% of their total energy requirements orally and received the remainder intravenously (10 patients, group 2). All patients had received parenteral nutrition for 31.8 +/- 9.8 SD and 33.1 +/- 17.1 months, respectively. All patients in group 1 and four in group 2 had short bowel syndrome; five in group 2 had pseudo-obstruction syndrome. The children in group 1 had normal height, weight, midarm circumference (MAC), midarm muscle circumference (MAMC), and triceps skinfold thickness (TSF). In group 2 patients, height, MAC, and TSF, were significantly below normal, and their weight, MAMC, and TSF, were lower than in group 1. Hemoglobin, total lymphocyte count, and serum albumin concentration were below normal in group 1; serum total protein concentration was low in both groups. Serum bilirubin concentration was higher in group 1; serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase activity was elevated in both groups. These data indicate that children receiving long-term total parenteral nutrition can obtain and maintain normal height, weight, and other anthropometric measurements of nutritional status. Group 1 patients had better nutritional status than those in group 2, perhaps because of differences in the underlying medical disorders between the two groups, or possibly because of a propensity to underestimate the amount of parenteral nutrition needed by patients who ingest some nutrients.