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Mary Ann Benitez

Nearly one in 10 schoolchildren suffer from a spinal problem linked to carrying heavy schoolbags.

Scoliosis -  or curvature of the spine -  can be caused by congenital, developmental or degenerative problems. The most common form develops in adolescents during growth spurts.

A total of 15,118 schoolchildren were diagnosed with scoliosis out of 164,576 tested in the past academic year, the Department of Health's Student Health Service attendance figures show.

'For scoliosis, the detection rate continued to increase steadily over the past three years, from 6.2 per cent in 1999/00 to eight per cent in 2000/01 and 9.2 per cent in the last school year,' said Dr Mak Kwok-hang, a community medicine consultant who is in-charge of the Student Health Service.

Dr Mak said the increasing trend might be due to more parents being conscious of their children's appearance.

'The parents notice their children have unequal shoulders -  one higher than the other  -  or their back sticks out or their torso is twisted, so they come forward,' he said.

The tests for scoliosis are given to Primary Five and forms Three and Five students, when growth spurts are most noticeable.

The service's senior medical and health officer, Dr Chow Ka-wah, said most children had mild scoliosis that could be controlled by switching to appropriate school bags, regular exercise and a balanced diet. Less than 10 required surgery, while a few could be treated by wearing a spinal brace.

Other common problems affecting schoolchildren from Primary One to Secondary Seven are poor eyesight, obesity and hearing impairment.

In the past academic year, 80,685 out of 406,635 students tested were diagnosed with vision problems. The detection rate has ranged from 19 to 20 per cent in the past three years.

A total of 55,857 of 409,479 tested were overweight, with detection rates at 13 to 14 per cent over the three years.

In a hearing assessment test last year, 3,021 out of 52,793 children failed their first hearing screening.

Of those, 900 were confirmed to be suffering from hearing loss.

Dr Mak urged parents to make use of the Student Health Service, which offers free physical checks, screening for health problems and individual counselling so children could receive early treatment.

In January, a nine-year-old boy fell 20 floors to his death in Tuen Mun when his school bag -  loaded with books for the first day of term -  apparently pulled him over safety railings at the block of flats where he lived.

An Education Department circular was sent out urging schools to reduce the weight of pupils' bags months before the tragedy.



One in 10 children have spine problems