17
Table 5

Summaryof Physical Findings tn Children

—Exposed (26)*

Chron mpetlge active)

\folluscum contagiosum
Pinea versicolor

Exposed
un utero (4)

>6 vears(30)

Nonexposed
Majuro(12)

0

,

>

5

»

Q
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

l
6

5

,

1

;

.

3

!

0

i

0

0

3

iv
-er 3cm)
Palpable liver (over
\denopathy

3
6

C hetlosis

/

Warts

5

Furuncie
ash

<6 years(38)

0
;

Youre OULLIS inedia

S aligo

Nonexposed Rongelap

°

[ynea Cruces

Chront ous media

Nonex posed
of exposed
parents(24)

2
0
0

;

5
°

0

,

(
)

,

0

)

I

t

0

;

3

°0

0

()

0

~
2

0

0

*Number examined.

For the Rongelap population a table of most

probable birth dates was eventually worked out.

Although a few inconsistencies and uncertainties

still persisted. these dates of birth were considered

to be best estimates and were used in calculating
the ages of the children for the analvses. Biologic
compatibility of the birth dates within each fami-

ly group was carefully checked, and physiologic
compatibility of status and age for each child was
examined.

With the establishment of a presumptive date
of birth for each child, analysis of the growth and
development data was undertaken. Anthropometric data obtained during 1958, 1959, 1960, and

1961 were used in the initial analysis.* Growth
data from examinations prior to 1958 had been
collected by several different observers, and this

earlier material will be tabulated and analyzed in

a subsequent study. Although a numberofphysical and physiological parameters were measured,
the present analysis was limited to stature, weight,

and skeletal age. In the very young age groups
head circumference data werealso evaluated.

The study population was divided into 5 groups:
(1) children born before the fallout and living on
Rongelap at the time offallout (exposed group),

(2) children born before the fallout but not living

on Rongelap at the timeoffallout (control group),

“The present pediatrician (W.W-S.) actively Participated in

each of these surveys except the one in 1960.

(3) children born to mothers who were pregnant
when exposedto fallout (exposed in utere group),
(4) children born subsequent to 1 January 1955 to

parents one or both of whom were exposed to fallout (exposed parents group), (3) chiidren born
subsequent to | January 1955 to parents neither
of whom were exposed to fallout (control group

for exposed parents group).
Because someof the distributions encountered in
these data did not grossly approximate normality or
even symmetryofdistribution, and because many
of the groups were too small to justify making any

assumptions about the parametersof the populations from which the samples were drawn (andin
many instances too small to permit calculations of
any meaningful measureofvariability), all analvsis
of data was done by nonparametric statistical
methods.* All measures of central tendency men-

tioned were medians, and all graphic presentations
comparing groups wereplotted in terms of medians
of the groups. Any descriptive differences between
groups mentioned weredifferences between medi-

ans. All tests for significance of differences between
groups, unless otherwise specified, utilized the
Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance.®

Because the comparisonsof skeletal ages and
chronological ages involved related distributions,
the Walsh test'® and the Wilcoxon matched-pairs
*Weare grateful to Dr. Kenneth Griffith of the M.D. Anderson
Hospital, Houston, Texas, for carrying outthestatistical analysis.

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