| Show t v iff iY 7 jet f C.- C. m f f. f r- r 2 U 3 rc a ce o ot J 1 d 2 z ii 4 L fi 1 Vi j r rr ry y r CI CE I S F Ft 1 7 J J g Jour r T f j What the the- United States Government e as earn earns earne J s. s in e a Ten en Year ear Survey ur Ue Among mon Ten en Thousand Average Citizens Citizens r About the Age a t h the t bl A Human Motor olor Begins to o Die Down an and i I Whether We Are w.-t w. Successfully Holding 0 in ine Off th e Undertake ker t 1 If f your heart is right your j L J I f i T f it chance for i running a I long ong race is is hood good r r I f r t oil f 0 t J f Q N Kr 7 I 1 ol f By y J. J Herbert Duckworth ARE RE you breaking up physically beN before be- be N fore your time r- r Are you getting the proper mileage from your heart and lungs and other vital organs Are your eyes accessories legs and 1 standing feet s et-s up under the strain of speed hIgh modern lIfe Are your your pipe nerves lines and blood vessels vessel holding holding together under the h tension ti Ten thousand men representative of oft t r the average worker have bave been weighed arid and measured thumped on the chest tested for strength and wind power pressure and pulse rate taken taken- jn in snort short have ha-e been thoroughly examined i physically with the newest modern scientific instruments checked by the Bureau of Standards by the United States Public Health Service The results re- re suIts make a national standard by byJ J r- r which for the first time can be judged r whether our own particular human motor motors i s giving as good ser service ice or not as the next mans This This survey is one of the mst mast corns corn com s 4 r ever made by Uncle Sam i. i J The examinations t took ok ten years to complete Never before has such a big slice of the community been made laboratory material in this way M More men were examined during the World War but the appraisals at that ti time ne were comparatively superficial All that was ought fought for them was fitness to serve erve temporarily in the army either at home or abroad In the emergency worn and improperly balanced parts f were overlooked so long as the man mans s seemed to have two or three years more mores s f good kick left in him HE investigation just concluded concluded put THE the men under the mIcroscope ray X-ray and bench trials Hundreds of of examinations were made and t the e measurements taken have been analyzed and tabulated by highly trained statisticians who have produced a series of statistical pictures that tell you at a glance whether or not your job an and other troubles are sending you to the junkyard before your time The medical officers assigned to the physical examinations were all acting assistant surgeons of the Public Health Service experienced in industrial hygie hy- hy gie giene It has taken more than a year for folio Rollo H. H Britten associate cian and a staff of experts using the most modern mechanical sorting and tabulating machines to reduce reduce re- re duce to simple charts graphs and tables the mass of material gathered The physical examination was thor thor- ough An average of forty five minutes was spent on each of the indi- indi Human beings in the United States iS N. N il j. j 1 u. u st s t K 1 today are living longer than than ever before Our average length of life i is six fifty y years rL The rhe business of living is fairly safe safe in childhood but life becomes becomes' increasingly increasingly hazardous after the age of 15 is passed The rate at 25 is about twice that of childhood at 31 three times the rate at childhood a 38 four times and ana at 44 five times When the period of 55 to 64 is reached twenty four out of every thousand die each year Are you going to beat the game Size yourself up from the tables that show wl when en and how the average person begins to show signs o of wear and tear and if you are running ahead of the schedule schedule- well see the doctor The curves for specific conditions are of extraordinary interest says the Public Public Pub Pub- lic Health Service No data of this character and extents extent have previously been avail available ble They are distinct fro from death and sickness statistics yet bear a close to both relationship They give a valuable picture of the development of chronic disease and defects among adults T THE HE chi chief f cause of of death during middle life when men and women are arc most useful to society is losis About 30 per per cent of all deaths between the ages of 15 and 60 are due to pulmonary tuberculosis alone Pneumonia cancer and diseases of the heart and kidneys also cause a considerable considerable consid- consid erable prop proportion of deaths in middle life and various infectious diseases especially when they are epidemic are responsible for many deaths at this period Tuberculosis however stands head and shoulders above all the others in in its deadliness In old age apoplexy diseases of the heart and kidneys cancer and pneumonia are amo among g the most frequent causes of death Diseases of the digestive system tend to increase steadily between 17 and 45 and to remain stationary after that age Faulty elimination the most important single disease of the group also f follows this curve You should therefore go to the repair shop for an overhauling if your digestive system shows signs of collapsing after you are 45 Defects of the circulatory system present present pre pre- sent a somewhat different curve from that of the digestive system Organic heart troubles rise cons consistently with age The same is true of both marked and slight arterio There seems to be very little increase in the prevalence prevalence preva- preva lence of enlarged heart from 17 to 40 years after this age however the rise is a definite one I A J a. a L nj r a S t tJ J iF r L 5 C y M t i 4 iii Some men seem to defy old Father Time himself and John Williams Cragg is one of these for at 80 he performs acrobatic stunts just as he did in his his' his youth Of all the heart conditions irregular heart shows the widest variation from the others a drop being observed from the 20 under age group It remains st stationary sta- sta until the to 60 age group then rises quite definitely In other other words your heart should give you pretty good service for from five fifty to sixty years and so should your arteries The c curves for respiratory diseases diseases' present presenta a a different type though the individual individual in- in diseases in this group tend to vary For tub tuberculosis the peak is reached at 40 the curve declining with advanced age Bronchitis increases steadily with advancing age though hough here again there is a tendency to decrease in inthe inthe the two oldest age periods The prevalence of diseases of the nose and throat decreases regularly as people get older and this is especially lly true of enlarged tonsils The The dangerous d age for tonsil troubles is is' b between 25 and 30 Tonsils after this period should not cause trouble does not a as might have been expected increase continuously with age This is perhaps because in the older age periods the maximum amount of of arti dental work lias has probably been completed As to structural defects hernia van vari- i 1 w i. i MOTOR PERfORMANCE 5 SHEET t- t t- t 4 t R OWING AGE WHEN SLOWS UP V SM SM g flee 20 30 40 50 60 Wi I I t I g 2 a S TUBERCULOSIS III o o f 4 25 25 lC 4 41 4 00 DIGESTIVE 1 37 HERRING U l s J FIRT FEET PEET 0 JOt r r r z I- I ZiO a a zoo 0 0 I r. r 12 00 9 o 7 3 i x 50 o e k A- A Ai i i. i t Jig e 20 30 40 SO 50 60 core cose veins and hemorrhoids show a steady rate of increase throughout life Flat feet increase at first then decline at a steady rate Around 30 is the critical critical crit- crit ical age for feet Eye tests show that at about 40 years there is an acceleration in the rate of deterioration so far as as' as normal vision in in both eyes is concerned The curve of normal vision in one eye only increases increases in- in creases somewhat until about 50 years then falls faUs off rapidly Apparently in inthe inthe the earlier part of life there are a large number humber of workers who keep one eye normal while the other deteriorates In later years there is a rapid deterioration tion in both eyes By combining blood blood pressures obtained ob- ob t ined in a stu study y of posture being carried carried car car- ried on by the Public Health Service at the present time tim it has been possible to construct curves curves representing the progressive changes from 5 to 70 years of age HOW OW is your blood pressure Thee The Therise rise in systolic olic pressure that is is t the e pressure at its height of the b beat at is as a rule abrupt up to the twentieth year From the tw twentieth to the forty forty- fifth year the rise should be very grad grad- ual aI After 45 the rise takes place at ata a much more rapid although rather constant constant con con- stant rate The rise in diastolic pressure the pressure midway between beats in the year under period seems by no means mean regular There is at first a steady rise in the groups under 10 years followed by a period between 10 and 15 years when the pressure appears t to remain almost stationary The rise between 15 and 20 however is the steepest of any period of life Fromn Froin 20 tp tv 46 45 there is a more gradual increase and after that the increase is slight The differences between the systolic and diastolic curves are expressed concretely concretely con con- by the pulse pressure changes Between 5 and 20 these are not entirely clear It would seem that there is a a general rise reaching its peak about 16 to 18 years of age followed by a rapid fall until 20 years is reached On the theother theother other hand the graph suggests that there is a preliminary fall between 10 and 13 succeeded by a rapid rise iIse Between Between Be- Be tween 20 and 45 the pulse pressure appears ap- ap pears stationary after which a rise takes place corresponding c closely to the rise in systolic blood pressure Is your blood pressure ti too high for your weight There appears to be a very definite relationship between blood pressure and weight In the three age groups under 25 25 to 44 and 45 and over the lu I Ii 1 1 45 C Life is a alace race lace I so grim I and so so filled danger that few of u us permit our our- 4 1 selves to think of the h r f grisly competitor who presses close on our lour heels never slacking his pace and never swerving and who vho will breast the tape a stride ahead of of i us struggle as we will systolic increases increase's definitely with weight and the amount of increase seems somewhat some some- what greater for the heavier groups of 4 the you youngest gest and o oldest dest age ages t. t Organic heart defects appeared consistently consistently con con- higher in the group who were I under average weight this difference 4 appearing at t all ages Irregular heart t tand and marked sclerosis arterio-sclerosis l manifested C Ca a higher rate among a ong those who were i ivery very much under or over over average m. weight i Poor elimination seems to be Jj correlated with weight the rate j being much higher in the extreme under under- average weight group for all ages especially espe- espe r 0 in the to 44 age group and i decreasing consistently as the weight j increased increased As shown by the dynamometer the to 29 age group records the greatest greatest great great- j est strength the over and age group the least The group under 20 years J indicates somewhat less strength than Fy the to 29 group it Another point of f interest is that the t t I Irish ish German and English races races' are a taller talle than the Polish Russian Russian-Aus- 1 trian and Italian races The measurement measure measure- inert ment of height is unique in connection with this study in that it is is' is seen to be bean an inherited characteristic of races The 1 average height of f male work workers rs of e each ch Arac A race rac is as follows folloW z AmerIcan white N Negro gro 1 IrIsh German l English Russian Austrian Polish 6 2 r Italian born Foreign Jewish All races I A difference of about two inches in average height is noted as the extreme C range A point of particular interest is J that of the white group the American is t the e tallest This confirms what what Dr J Hrdlicka physIcal anthropologIst ot of the Smithsonian Institution has found found- namely that the old Americans are 3 J f invariably taller than other races found in this country Study of the racial composition on of 1 eta the industries brought out several inter inter- J 4 esting facts The great change in the races migrating to the United States i st in the last thirty or forty years as compared to the previous years was was strikingly shown a 1 This change has had a definite ite eff effect ct ip upon the type of personnel in m. m an industry in- in m- m I As a typical instance the pottery pottery pot pot- tery industry was found to contain a large percentage of the older immigration J tion group English Irish German German- r while the che chemical ical industry employing a great amount of unskilled labor and F 1 compelled to draw on the immigration group available in recent lecent years contains contains con con- a higher percentage of the new i 1 immigration Italian group Polish Russian Rus Rus- L sIan and AustrIan Industries which h are well established establish ed J Jed therefore drawing from the old older r rajon ion group s show how an older working population a longer length of service or employment a lower percentage of l born foreign an and a lower perc percentage tage of I unskIlled TYPIcal of these industries were pottery postoffice and glass The t contrary is true of the the industries i drawing draw draw- I ing on the newer m immigration group such as chemIcal and steel t Approximately persons la lay Y r off work every day in the United States on account of Sickness T The e most seri sera tt 1 ous disabling diseases es are aie influenza and I J pneumonia rheumatism diseases of the I nervous system not including insanity i apoplexy exy and paralysis diseases es of digestion tuberculosIs and dIseases of A Athe the heart organic and the ir y system The ye yearly e economic l loss ss on account of i r I f sickness IS colossal The people of the tho United States are losing Josing considerably more than 1 1 1 preventable sickness The annual cost COSi to industry for preventable defects and J minor ailments is approximately 1008 Nearly per yea yeas is be being ng spent for me medicines alone About 1 Y is the yearly estimated t cost of services of physicians nurses if hospital service drugs and patent m medi- medi di- di cines The loss lose due to I premature death 1 J i is more than 1 We pride ourselves these days on our i efficiency We have a system for doing try 7 almost everything but the job of looking after our health bu Public Ledger 1 t |
