Health and growth of aleut children

Abstract

Summary 1. The general health, growth, and development of fifty-nine Aleut infants up to 2 years of age and eighty-nine Aleut school children from 6 to 16 years of age have been studied over a four-year period and their progress plotted on the Wetzel grid. 2. A well-baby clinic was established for the study of the infants and clinic was held monthly. Instructions in regard to hygiene and infant feeding and care were given the Aleut mothers. As a supplement to their regular diet the infants received daily 20 drops of Infa-Concemin, a vitamin B and iron preparation. They also were given daily the juice of one orange. 3. Of the fifty-nine infants, fifty-five had a physique of medium, normal, or better, and fifty-four showed a normal or advanced physical development. The general health of these infants appeared to be better than average. Illness among this group was at a minimum. 4. A routine of care for school children was set up which included weekly instructions in health and hygiene, weekly physical checkups, and semiannual physical examinations, and a daily toothbrush drill in the interest of oral hygiene. Each child was given daily as a supplement to his diet one Pan-Concemin tablet. All children were immunized against smallpox, typhoid fever, diphtheria, and whooping cough. Those who showed a negative reaction to PPD were vaccinated with BCG. In 1949 a mass chest x-ray survey was made of these children. 5. In terms of physique, sixty-three of the eighty-nine children had a medium type of body build, seventeen were stocky, and six were overly plump or obese; the remaining three were under par in body build. The age schedule of development of these children showed advancement or improvement in thirty-two, no change in forty-four, and a decline in thirteen. Illness in this group also was at a minimum, as evidenced by the fact that the rate of attendance in school exceeded 99 per cent. There have been no cases of communicable disease, except influenza, among these children, and a comparison of the incidence of this affliction during two epidemics in a two-year period showed a decrease from 16 to 4 per cent. On the basis of the mass chest x-ray survey, only one case of active tuberculosis was reported, although sixteen showed increased markings or calcification. Only four of the eighty-nine children had a serious illness or operation during the four-year period.