Development of a Digitalized Child's Checkups Information System

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Public Health
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Childhood health checkups in Japan are crucial for monitoring and managing health from infancy through high school.
• Anthropometric data from these checkups are stored in various records, including maternal and child health handbooks and school health cards.
• Effective utilization of this data is key for preventing adult lifestyle-related diseases like obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a system for linking anthropometric data from infancy to school-age health checkups.
• To develop digital tools for analyzing obesity-related indices and trends in children.
• To leverage historical health data for proactive health management and disease prevention.

Main Methods:

• Development of an optical character recognition (OCR) system to digitize handwritten anthropometric records.
• Implementation of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for calculating obesity-related indices (e.g., body mass index, relative body weight).
• Creation of functions within spreadsheets to tabulate obesity frequencies in specific pediatric groups.

Main Results:

• A functional OCR-based system was established to link childhood health data across different life stages.
• Digital tools were created for calculating and analyzing key obesity indicators.
• The system demonstrated potential for identifying and addressing childhood obesity trends.

Conclusions:

• Digitizing and analyzing anthropometric data from childhood health checkups is vital for long-term health.
• The developed OCR system and digital spreadsheets offer a promising approach to managing childhood health and preventing adult diseases.
• Proactive use of these data systems can significantly reduce the risk of lifestyle-related diseases in adulthood.