An evaluation of school screening for scoliosis in Western australia

This paper summarizes the results of research into the scoliosis screening programme undertaken in Western Australian schools over a three-year period from October 1976 to October 1979. It represents the follow-up operating in the spinal deformities clinics chiefly at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and also at the Royal Perth (Rehabilitation) Hospital giving details of numbers seen, sex and age relationship, necessity for review visits and active treatment required. The various treatments are outlined briefly. The optimum school levels at which screening should be carried out have emerged and the programme has been altered accordingly as from the beginning of 1980. This paper concludes that school screening for scoliosis is a worthwhile exercise in preventive medicine.