A STUDY OF ILLNESS IN A GROUP OF CLEVELAND FAMILIES XI. THE OCCURRENCE OF GASTROINTESTINAL SYMPTOMS1

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Abstract
There were 1466 cases of gastrointestinal symptoms among members of a group of families over a 3-year period. Of these, 362 were considered to be accounted for adequately by data descriptive of the illness. For the remaing 1104 no acceptable cause was found. The latter have been considered to be principally acute, infectious, nonbacterial gastroenteritis. Their incidence is described. Total incidence of gastrointestinal illness in this population was 1.6 cases per person-year. The rate increased from infancy through age 4 years and then decreased throughout childhood. At every age, incidence was higher among boys than girls, but rates were nearly equal among adult males and females. School children had a higher incidence of gastrointestinal illness than did preschool children of the same age. Under age 4 years, preschool children with siblings in school had higher rates than did those without school siblings. A group of school children who had attended school the previous year had the same incidence of gastrointestinal illness as did another group of school children of the same age who had not been in school before. The seasonal pattern of gastrointestinal illness was quite constant from year to year, a sharp rise in October or November being followed by a gradual decline during winter and spring and low incidence during summer. There are many epidemiologic similarities between gastrointestinal illness and the common respiratory diseases in this population.

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