RELATIONS BETWEEN THE INCREASING TENDENCY OF CHILDREN'S ALLERGIC DISEASES IN OKINAWA PREFECTURE AND THE CHANGES OF SOCIAL CONDITIONS FOR THEIR GROWTH

Abstract

A survey on the allergic diseases of elementary school children in Naha City has revealed that particularly atopic dermatitis, of which incidence rate is lower than the national level, began to increase after the return of Okinawa Prefecture to Japan and is now also increasing. In order to make clear its cause, a questionnaire survey, etc. were conducted on their parents to investigate into the changes of children's growth conditions in Okinawa Prefecture after the return.As a result, it was found that Okinawa Prefecture, since the return, had been following the modernization trends of all other prefectures in the post-war Japan in all aspects of the eating habits (mainly the contents of foods taken), housing conditions (building styles and living environment), family make-up (a nuclear family or not), number of brothers/sisters, the degree of severity of the competitions for entering aschool of higher grade, play methods (play time, friends, indoor or outdoor play), etc. It was also recognized that the households affected by the greater changes in their life style in the course of modernization had their children suffer allergic diseases more frequently.From the above results, the modernization of life style can be pointed out as one of the causes to developthe child's constitutional tendencies to allergic diseases. Modern life is characterized by the strong control of humanbehaviors. It can therefore be considered that this strong behavioral control may cause physical troubles including skin diseases.