[tri-med] FYI - Weight Charts and Well-Child Care

I am forwarding this article or URL for your information (FYI) as I believe
it may be of interest and is from a reliable source. As always, check the
information with your own doctor or health care professional before starting
or changing any treatments.

http://www.pediatriclinx.com/thearts.cfm?artid=272654&specid=6

Weight Charts and Well-Child Care

How the Pediatrician Became the Expert in Child Health

  Jeffrey P. Brosco, MD, PhD


Weighing children became popular in the 1910s, when public health workers hoped 
to identify malnourished children based on weight.
They measured tens of thousands of children in school halls and church 
basements, compared their results with standard weight
charts, and reported evidence of widespread malnutrition. In the 1920s, 
physicians argued that a complete medical history and a
physical examination, not just weight, were necessary to diagnose malnutrition. 
By the 1930s, the weight chart had become merely one
of the many diagnostic tools used to monitor the health of well children in the 
physician's office. Weight charts remain an
essential part of pediatric practice, but their history is more than a simple 
tale of scientific progress. This article explores how
pediatrics emerged as a primary care specialty in the midst of conflict over 
the meaning of weight, the professional role of women
in medicine, and the pediatrician's preeminence as a child health expert.

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001;155:1385-1389



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