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

10 The Health Bulletin April, 1951ing are necessary to prevent and minimizethe effect of the disease, the reportadded.Many patients with epilepsy can livea normal life and nearly all can bemade useful members of a communitythrough medical care and education ofthe patient, family and public, said areport of the American Chapter, InternationalLeague Against Epilepsy."The psychologic handicaps of theepileptic are for the most part the resultsof social ostracism imposed by thepublic," said the report. "Preventioninvolves a change in the public attituderegarding epilepsy."Preventive measures can reduce thenumber afiQicted by blindness, accordingto a report of the National Society forthe Prevention of Blindness. The nation'safaicted were estimated at 260,000persons totally blind, 340,000 with visionbarely useful and 1,000,000 blind in oneeye.Screening tests among school childrenhave become important factors in theprevention of deafness, said a reportof the American Hearing Society. Itadded:"There is needed an awareness that ahearing test is the only means of findinghearing loss in the early stages.Even though restoration to normalhearing may not be achieved, progressionof the deafness may be arrested incases diagnosed early."Hereditary indications were cited inconnection with cerebral palsy, epilepsy,diabetes, blindness and deafness. Thereports recommended close observationof persons with a family history of thosediseases, and more education as tofamily implication of certain hereditarydiseases or those with an hereditarypredisposition.Obesity Reported as Chronic DiseaseFactorPoor eating habits that cause childrenand adults to become excessively overweightor underweight are responsiblefor the development of many chronicdiseases, according to a report of theNational Conference on Chronic Disease:Preventive Aspects."An estimated 25 to 30 per cent ofthe adult population in the UnitedStates is overweight and the percentagemay reach as high as 60 per cent inwomen of the 50 to 70 year age group,"according to the Experimental Biologyand Medicine Institute of the NationalInstitute of Health.Delegates from 46 national healthgroups attending the three-day Conferenceon chronic disease prevention weretold that programs to control obesitycould do much to prevent diabetes, gallbladder disturbances, heart and circulatoryabnormalities and hernias that occurin hundreds of thousands of peopleeach year.Emphasizing the dangers of excessivedieting the report stated that "weightcontrol is primarily a form of medicaltreatment and should not be undertakenwithout medical supervision."The incidence of diabetes, increasingat the rate of 50,000 cases each year, ismore than twice as great in obese adultsas in persons of average weight. Eightyper cent of diabetes in adults is associatedwith obesity, according to a reportof the American Diabetes Association.Programs to control obesity were suggestedas a means of reducing the incidenceof this disease. Emphasis wasplaced on the need to find and treatmore cases of diabetes in the earlystages to prevent complications. Waysand means of setting in motion theseand other programs for prevention ofchronic disease were considered thisweek by conference delegates.Occupational HazardsOccupational hazards also play a rolein certain chronic diseases of the respiratorytract, heart and blood vessels,alimentary tract, liver, nervous system,muscle and boney structures, eyes, ears,and skin, according to a report by agroup of authorities in the industrialhealth field. The report called for anaccelerated industrial health program.TuberculosisUndernourishment, fatigue, overcrowding,low economic status, poorpersonal hygiene and silicosis are among