Illness History and Physical Growth

It has become a commonplace generalization among physicians, public health workers and others that the growth of children is retarded by pathologic conditions.¹Some consider that retardation of growth is most marked as a result of severity of illness,²while others believe it to be most marked as a result of mild illnesses of long duration.³ Recourse to published studies shows that such generalizations are neither consistently nor extensively supported by experimental findings. Bowditch,⁴using 1 girl as his subject, reported 3 instances in which a small loss in weight was a precursor of disease. Woodbury,⁵using 57,977 children under 6 years of age, found stature and weight to be below average for those (203) with "rachitis" but not below average for those with a cardiac abnormality, diseased tonsils or adenoids. Turner, Lougee, Sarabia and Fuller,⁶using some 120 school children, found that the