A STUDY OF ILLNESS IN A GROUP OF CLEVELAND FAMILIES: XIV. THE ASSOCIATION OF RESPIRATORY AND GASTROINTESTINAL SYMPTOMS; AN ESTIMATION OF THE SPECIFIC SYMPTOMATOLOGY1

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Abstract
Cases in which respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms occurred together in the same individual were in-vestigated. On the basis of previous studies these cases were considered to be of 2 kinds - those representing concurrence of independent respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in the same person and those in which the 2 groups of symptoms are presumed to be causally related. It was not possible to classify individual cases in one or the other of these 2 groups and describe the groups directly. Cases in the 1st group, however, were assumed to resemble common respiratory disease and gastroenteritis in symptomatology. An estimate was made of the symptomatology of the 2d group, referred to as the "respiratory-gastrointestinal" syndrome. According to this estimate the "respiratory-gastrointestinal" syndrome is made up of respira-tory symptoms similar to those of common respiratory disease in general. The gastrointestinal component usually consists of not more than one of the 3 major gastrointestinal symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Data were not available to estimate frequency of occurrence of other gastrointestinal symptoms. Fever or feverishness occurs in about 60% of cases.