loss of body mass in exprisoners of war body mass was examined in the defenders of vukovar n 71 from eastern slavonia republic of croatia immediately on release from enemy concentration camps the sample consisted of a group of 33 male smokers who had been imprisoned for mean sd 1274 184 days age 316 72 years and 38 male smokers imprisoned for 2716 144 days age 308 65 years according to subjective estimations the prisoners of war had lost 184 61 and 216 102 respectively in relation to body mass before the war for comparison data were used on a healthy population of male smokers from eastern slavonia vinkovci republic of croatia n 75 aged 324 52 years taken from a study carried out in 1976 data were analysed on body mass body mass index triceps subscapular skinfolds and percentage of body fat all parameters were statistically significantly lower in males imprisoned for 2716 144 days in relation to the comparative group p 00001005 a negative deviation from body mass nomogram was registered in prisoners of war in relation to the comparative group 516 basic biochemical parameters were examined in the prisoners of war in the group imprisoned for 1274 184 days statistically significant differences and pathological values of mean corpuscular volume and haematocrit were verified in relation to the group of prisoners with longer duration of imprisonment p 0001 although the prisoners of war had lost weight during imprisonment in the camps due to the frugal diet no clinical signs of malnutrition were foundabstract truncated at 250 words