This standardized percentage table for physical efficiency of women was worked out and the ratings made with the able assistance of Dr. David Bovaird, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia University, and Dr. George A. Meylan, Associate Professor of Physical Education, Columbia University; and it has seemed to us that this combination of tests is of greater practical value, since the maintenance of physical efficiency depends upon the integrity of all of the organs of the body. These ratings were made to cover the Special Medical Blank for Women,[1] gotten up for the examination of the women candidates of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
For many years the various Boards of Foreign Missions, which are the great church corporations, have required that candidates for this work should pass a physical examination similar to that demanded by the life insurance companies, and so similar blanks were sent out to be filled by the local examining physicians; but because of the many breakdowns of the women on the field, and the great detriment to the work and the expense thus entailed, four years ago the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions decided to have all of their women candidates re-examined in New York by a woman physician especially appointed by them for this purpose.
The results of these examinations have been most illuminating as to the physical condition of women who call themselves well, to say nothing of what the medical profession in general seem to consider as standards of good health in women who will be obliged to do very hard work under most trying climatic conditions, which all Life Insurance Companies rate as extrahazardous.
The composite picture thus obtained by the statistical study of the physical examinations of these 160 young women is of great value, not only because it is the first of the kind made for the first decade after leaving college; but also because it is very fairly representative of the average physical condition of the great masses of women who are engaged in teaching, social service, secretarial work, etc.; and, further, it demonstrates the striking difference in physique of women who call themselves well, and that of the normal standard of physical efficiency to which most of these women could have attained by proper physical education.
Statistical Study of the Physical Examinations of 160 Candidates.—This study is made from the records of four successive classes of young women coming from all over the United States, city and country, including college and non-college graduates, whose occupations were physicians, teachers, students, nurses, social workers, housewives, etc. All had passed a preliminary physical examination. The average age was twenty-eight years, when woman should be physically at her best.
I. Acute Diseases Since Childhood and Number of Days Lost Through Illness. For Classes of 1913 and 1914 Only, Consisting of 100 Women.[2]
| History negative—i. e., no history was given of any acute illness after the children’s diseases | 30 per cent. |
| Acute illnesses, including operations | 70” ” |
| Previous year’s record: | |
| Lost no days from illness | 42” ” |
| Operations performed, followed by complete cure | 27” ” |
| Marked loss of weight | 23” ” |
| Total loss of time from illness, including postoperative treatment, would equal entire time of one woman for | 8½ months. |
Of the acute illnesses, the following are of the greatest interest because now preventable: Typhoid fever, 12 per cent.; malaria, 6 per cent.; tonsillitis, 6 per cent.
Of the causes for operations, appendicitis leads with 13 per cent.; of these, 9 per cent. were simply for the removal of the appendix; 2 per cent. for the removal of the appendix and diseased right ovary; and 2 per cent. for the removal of the appendix and ovarian cyst. The recovery was not only complete from the operation, but the general health was greatly improved in every respect.
Of the cases of tonsillitis, 4 per cent. were operated on not only with complete recovery, but also with the cure of rheumatism from which these women had previously suffered.