[Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Darlington County Borough.
- Darlington (England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1930
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Darlington County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![un improvement in the physique of this type of child during th( next year, though the subject of maternal inefficiency is alway: a factor militating against lasting results, even when the defec is remedied. NUTRITION AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN. Malnutrition is not just a matter of under-height and weight) but of most complex symptoms of lack of balance of intake an(J output. It may be produced by lack of food, improper food] or physical disease, and show itself in loss of growth, of pro i portionate weight or general outward characteristics of health. Tf get over the personal factor, particularly on the mathematica side, Dr. McFarlane has carried out, on my suggestion, a ver exhaustive inquiry into past records of Darlington childrer preparing a standard for different types in separate age groups. He reports as follows:— In this article I have attempted to make a survey of th nutrition of children of certain age groups who have been es amined at medical inspection during the year 1930. To estimat the nutrition of a child is an exceedingly difficult problem, a there is no absolute standard nor single criterion to guide th: Medical Officer. Each Medical Officer is to a large extent guidei by his own personal experience. In estimating the nutrition I have taken into consideratio two factors (1) the relation of height and weight according t age and sex, (2) the observations on the nutrition of the chil made by the Medical Officer at medical inspection. With regar to the former it is necessary to determine first the height affi weight of health}^ children before considering the nutrition of tlf children as a whole. I have therefore constructed a height an weight table of Darlington children of certain age groups wh were found healthy and of good nutrition at medical inspectior: In the construction of this table I have been guided by heigh and weight tables in use in this country and in America. Th age groups considered Avere the 5 and 6 years, 7 and 8 yean and 12 and 13 years. In each group the height Avas taken 11 the nearest inch, and the AAxight to the nearest pound, and fc > each inch in height the mean Aveight Avas found. For cxamph i in the 5 and 6 years group the mean Aveight of healthy children c 36 inches in height Avas 37 pounds, and of 45 inches. 46 pound | {see Table).](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29149125_0130.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
