title: The health situation among Thai elementary school-age children: 2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The school years are a crucial time in the development of the basic life skills necessary for learning in the various and different fields to be encountered in life, as well as for developing and acquiring the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to establish and maintain a healthy lifestyle. In general, elementary school-age children rarely present at health service centers but may nevertheless have health problems that affect their ability to learn.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the health situation among elementary school-age children in Thailand, for the creation of baseline information to serve as an evential basis for making recommendations for adjusting the medical education curriculum and for improving health service provision.
  
  
  METHODS
  To analyze nationwide, hospital data, for the morbidity and mortality of children age 6-12 years in fiscal year 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Respiratory infections represented the leading cause for out-patient visits-approximately one-fifth. Respiratory infections were also a significant cause for admissions (21.6%), followed by dengue hemorrhagic fever (14.8%), injury and poisoning (11.3%), disease of digestive system (11.1%) and intestinal infection (10.3%). The leading causes of death were injury and poisoning (22.7%), followed by neoplasm (14.4%), other infection (13.5%) and respiratory infection (12.6%). Overall, about 50-60% of the causes of admissions and of deaths were due to infectious diseases and injury & poisoning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infectious diseases and injury & poisoning were the major physical illnesses among school-age children. Notwithstanding, there were other health issues-including nutrition, growth & development, mental health & psychosocial problems-that need to be recognized and addressed in order to ensure the health and well-being of school-age children in Thailand.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand. chasup@kku.ac.th
authors.forename: Chanyut
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suphakunpinyo
authors.forename: Rosawan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Areemit
authors.forename: Kaewjai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thepsuthammarat
authors.forename: Sumitr
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sutra
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends*; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology