[Health status and vaccination status of 4th grade students in the Rhine-Lahn district]

Within the framework of the school examination of fourth-formes in 1988, 997 children of the primary schools in the Rhein-Lahn district were examined by the Board of Health of Lahnstein. Nearly every 5th child had to be referred to established specialists because of suspicious diagnoses. Primarily this was a matter of pathological skeleton findings. About 20% of the children were overweight. About 75% of the pupils complied with our request to show us their vaccination certificates. After a part of them had been revaccinated, complete vaccination status was available in three quarter of the children. The significance of medical examination in school is underlined by the great number of children with medical problems. First of the area of the spinal column is alarmingly high. The health-political significance results from the possibility of an early prevention of degenerative diseases of the spinal column.