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Weight Charts and Well-Child Care
How the Pediatrician Became the Expert in Child Health
Jeffrey P. Brosco, MD, PhD
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001;155:1385-1389.
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.
From the Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine,
Miami, Fla.
Corresponding author and reprints: Jeffrey P. Brosco, MD, PhD, Department
of Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine, PO Box 016820 (D-820),
Miami, FL 33101 (e-mail: jbrosco{at}miami.edu).
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