Medical and nutritional survey of 800 N.Y.A. youths. Experience at National Youth Administration Work Centre in physical rehabilitation of youths of draft age
Manning, I.H., J.; Milam, D.F.
Southern Med. J. Birmingham, Alabama. 36: 373-380
1943
Document Number: 521574
Between mid-June 1941 and mid-June 1942, a total of 808 youths ranging in age from 16 to 25 years and representative of the male youth in urban and rural communities of North Carolina were admitted to the N.Y.A. Centre in Durham, N.C. Of that total, 98 youths were rejectees from various branches of military service. Rehabilitation was undertaken to increase the physical fitness of youths to meet the military requirements and to enable those youths who were unable to meet .military requirements to perform full-time duty in war industries. Each youth was given a complete medical examination on admission and the physical defects of each individual were carefully evaluated from the standpoint of their correctibility. Dental .caries was found in 95.2 per cent. and this is assumed to beattributable in large part to poor diet and insufficient dental care. The nutritional status of a group of 415 youths who remained in the Centre for 4 weeks or more was given detailed study. Comparison with standard height-weight charts revealed that 60.6 per cent. of the youths were from 6 to 45 lb. underweight, 22.2 per cent. normal in weight and 17.1 per cent; overweight. All the youths, with the exception of those markedly overweight, were given a standard diet designed to meet, as far as possible in the budgetary allowance, the recommendations of the National Research Council. With the exception of vitamin C, the dietary intake did in fact approach the N.R.C. levels. The majority of the normal and underweight youths showed gains in weight up to as much as 20 lb. in average periods of 12 to 16 weeks' duration. Explanations for failure to gain weight on the adequate diet are listed. They include excessive or unaccustomed physical exertion, social maladjustment, inadequate sleep and rest and mental abnormality. Upper respiratory infections were particularly prevalent and were thought to play an important role in the failure of some individuals to gain weights. Estimations of plasma vitamin A and vitamin C levels were made in over 700 boys on admission and in over 300 who were retested after 6 weeks on the Centre diet. The findings were in agreement with community surveys made in North Carolina (Abst. 1462, Vol. 12). It was found that in the first period some 170 boys who were tested twice not only failed to improve in vitamin C levels, but actually lost ground. The demand for vitamin C after starting the hard and hot work at the Centre exceeded that of previous months. The community surveys in North Carolina showed unsatisfactory levels of dietary intake in vitamin B1 and riboflavin and the same presumably holds for the families from which these N.Y.A. boys come. It was not possible to arrange laboratory tests to measure the improvement in physical condition which follows the improvement of the diet. It is stressed that there are many difficulties in a rehabilitation programme and to secure maximum results environmental factors in early life must not be neglected.