The frequency of weak children, derived from constitutional and functional factors, has increased recently, but their symptoms have never been observed and analysed. A survey was conducted to evaluate and understand the characteristics of weak children. 311 children who had visited in the weak child clinic of Kyunghee Oriental Medical Hospital from January, 1999 to August, 1999, were the respondents of the Weak Child Questionnaire. They were divided into 4 groups by age and birth weight, and statistical significances were tested by one way analysis of variances and bivariate correlation analysis among groups.
The results obtained were as follows:
1. Distribution of sex : male 191 cases, female 120 cases
2. The distribution of age showed the highest in 26 years(45.3%), followed by 7-12 years(31.8%), 0~1 years(18.0%), over 13 years(4.8%) in order. There was a statistical difference of all symptoms´ mean, except respiratory symptoms, among groups(p<0.01).
3. The distribution of birth weight showed the highest in 2.5~3.3kg(43.4%), followed by 3.3~4.lkg(39.5%), under 2.5kg(5.1%), over 4.lkg(2.1%) in order. There was a statistical difference of digestive symptoms´ and total score mean among groups(p<0.01, p<0.054. The correlation coefficient between general symptoms´ mean and other symptoms´ is the highest(p<0.01).
From the above results, it was suggested that general symptoms are representative of weak children´s characteristics.
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