The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

8 The Health Bulletin October, 1927
After the birth of the baby if it is
phiced directly in the open sunshine for
a part of each day from three weeks of
age on for two or three years, and is
sjiven daily a small quantity of cod
liver oil during this period, it is asserteil
by scientists who have made a
study of the question that the prevention
of decay of the teeth would eventually
result and that rickets would disappear
entirely from civilization.
We have some pictures which would
illustrate the terrible deformity resulting
from rickets in advanced stage ; but
we refrain from publishing these pictureS/Which
show so tragically the deformities
in the bones of these children
suffering from the disease in an advanced
stage.
To sum up, if you are a parent,
whether rich or poor, see that your
child gets plenty of sunlight in the open
air and of the kind of food necessary
to prevent this condition. Pediatricians
(that is, child specialists) have been
earnestly demanding for several years
that a .small quantitj' of cod liver oil
be given every child from three weeks
of age to three years every day throughout
the year, because they know of the
intense importance to the future health
and development of the child following
such a procedure.
PERCENTAGE OF PHYSICALLY NORMAL CHILDREN
The question of what per cent of
growing children are physically normal
is a i>erpetually recurring one. In the
first place, what may be said to be a
normal standard is a varying one for
different age groups and in different
parts of the country. We have made
many efforts in North Carolina to establish
a normal standard, but about all
we have attained is to adopt the height
and weight standard laid down by New
York writers and investigators. Ten
years ago the writer of this article
visited sixty-five public school institutes
in North Carolina, or public institutes
representing the teachers of sixty-tive
counties. We made examinations of
children selected at random in the presence
of these teachers. We then compared
our records with the records of
examination for about twenty thou.sand
children previously examined by three
doctors in the employ of the State
Board of Health working in twelve
separate counties of North Carolina the
previous year. We took the findings of
height and weight obtained in these
examinations and made a table of comparisons
with those of the United States
Public Health Service obtained in similar
manner in different sections of the
country. We went still further and
ffiade a comparison of tables published
jby Holt and Boaz. From the information
gathered from these sources we
adopted our own standard which we
followed for some years. The standards
that we established do not differ except
in slight degree from the standards
of the New York authorities now
used throughout the country.
We have found in estimating underweight
attributed to malnutrition that
care is necessary in differentiating between
family traits or family characteristics
which would be somewhat misleading.
In the case of grossly underweight
boys and girls the matter is
easy of diagnosis. But in the case of
the numerous border-line childi'en in
which the weight deficiency, according
to weight and height requirements, is
found to play around ten per cent, it
is much harder to ascertain whether or
not the deficiency is one of malnutrition
or otherwise. Most of the examinations
made in North Carolina
have been among boys and girls in
school and between the ages of six
and about fourteen. Ten years ago the
defects were somewhat more numerous
than at present. The greatest material
reduction, however, in physical defects
has been noted in the matter of decayed
teeth. In the survey of North Carolina
children ten to twelve years ago not
less than eighty per cent were suffering
from decayed teeth to a greater
or less extent. Similar examinations
reported during the last two years indicate
that not more than fifty per cent
of such children now suffer from such
deficiencies.
While we do not have the figures
at hand to afford an accurate statement,
it is probable that defects of