PHYSICAL STATISTICS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN AS A HEALTH INDICATOR FOR SMALL COMMUNITIES (I)

When measuring the levels of health of a small community the various indicators based on the vital statistics usually are difficult to apply imme-diately to the pertinent area for measurement of the levels of health due to a broad range of annual fluctuations. Adopting the physical statistics of schoolchildren from among the pre-existing statistical materials, the author examined their usefulness for the measurement of the levels of health of a small area. 1) As a method of indicating the physical statistics, the integraetd physi-cal values, totalling the values for each age, were used. 2) Using these integrated physical values changes in the levels of health in each of seven school districts of Yamato City, Kanagawa Prefecture during the year 1961-65 were observed. 3) A comparison of the integrated physical values among the four meas-urement items revealed slight fluctuation in the integrated physical value of height resulting in its stability and high reliability. 4) The relative difference among school districts of one city observed in the integrated value of height reveals generally the step of progress of “ur-banization” of the pertinent community as a biometer. In concluding this report the author wishes to express his deep appreciation to Dr. M. Maeda, the former Head of Yamato Health Center, Kanagawa Prefec-ture, for his offering tremendous cooperation and convenience to the author in the present study, and also to other related persons.