Abstract
To study the assumption that chronic diseases in children are more prevalent than generally expected, 400 randomly selected Finnish public health nurses were requested to report the diagnosis, names, ages and sex of all chronically sick children they were aware of. The informants reported 8321 chronically sick children (excluding diseases of the sense organs), 51% of them being boys and 49% girls. The total prevalence was 34·8 per 1000 children under 16 years of age or 38,000 chronically sick children in the entire country. The prevalence was highest in the northern and eastern provinces. The two largest groups of diseases were congenital malformations (35%) and allergic diseases (25%). All the other groups accounted for less than 10%. The age-specific prevalence of congenital diseases and malformations rapidly decreased with advancing age whereas that of endocrinological diseases, psychiatric conditions and sequalea of injuries slightly increased. The study yielded a higher estimate of the prevalence of chronic diseases in children than any previous study in Finland. It also indicated that where the prevalence is highest there the health services are in shortest supply.
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