Abstract
BackgroundHealth is vital to a child's learning in school and success in life. Therefore, early physical examination, and follow-up if necessary, would bring parents' attention to their child's health and would likely improve outcomes. The purposes of this study are twofold: to assess the health status of first-graders and to examine the health status differences between sexes, levels of residence urbanization, and quantity of available medical resources.MethodsThis is a comparative descriptive study. Data from the 2002 Student Entry Physical Examination (SEPE) and Student Medical History Inventory (SMHI) were obtained from 203 public and private elementary schools in northern Taiwan where a population of 53,053 students was included. Frequencies, independent sample t test, one-way ANOVA along with Scheff's post hoc test, and Pearson's correlation were conducted using SPSS.ResultsThis study showed that 13.7% of students had at least one diagnosed disease from the SMHI reported by parents. Moreover, the SEPE indicated that 79.5% students had at least one health concern. Dental caries, myopia, and obesity were the most prevalent health problems among the first-graders (69.6%, 27.1%, and 9.5%, respectively). Research results show that there were significant differences in the prevalence of dental caries, myopia, and obesity between different sexes and among levels of urbanization. However, the quantity of available medical resources made no significant difference.ConclusionElementary school entry physical examination is an important way to detect students' health problems. It is suggested that school health interventions consider students' health profiles along with their sex and level of urbanization in planning. More research is needed to find the risk factors of the health problems. Additionally, the creation of a school health committee is suggested to implement and evaluate the entry health examination program.
Highlights
Health is vital to a child's learning in school and success in life
This study explored the morbidity of health problems among first-graders and its association with sex, levels of urbanization, and quantity of medical resources
This study found myopia to rank as the second health problem among first-graders, surpassed only by dental caries
Summary
Health is vital to a child's learning in school and success in life. Health is vital to a child's ability to learn and to succeed in life [1]. Diseases or health problems can prevent a child from fully engaged in learning activities. Studies found that childhood asthma is associated with an increased risk for school problems, including grade failure and learning disability [2,3]. As a means of primary prevention, many studies suggested that physical examination can identify high risk groups among school-aged children and provide clues for secondary prevention [4,5]. School entry physical examination has a positive effect upon the high-risk population regarding health, which reduced death from cerebrovascular disease (CVD), heart disease, and so on [5]. Some schools require physical examination before enrollment or sport activities [8]
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