Pelidisi formula

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The Pelidisi formula , devised by the Austrian doctor Clemens von Pirquet , was used in the period after the First World War at the Vienna University Children's Clinic to identify those children whose malnutrition condition required a greater allocation of food.

Historical context

The armistice after the First World War brought no European country into such a dramatic predicament as the newly formed Republic of Austria , which only comprised 15 percent of the territory of Austria-Hungary . As early as 1918 there were no more than 40 kilograms of grain per capita per year compared to the normal state of 150 kg. In many cases, young people's physical development had practically come to a standstill; children between the ages of twelve and fourteen corresponded to normally developed eight- or ten-year-olds. It is estimated that 80 to 85 percent of children up to three years of age from middle and working-class families were more or less affected by rickets , and many had tuberculosis due to persistent malnutrition. Unlike the German Reich , Austria had no gold reserves to pay for food deliveries and, moreover, had a problematic relationship with its neighbors, who had been given new independence. Herbert Hoover soon managed to get foreign trade going again with the American Relief Administration (ARA), but a study in April 1920 confirmed that 78 percent of all children under the age of 15 were undernourished, especially in Vienna it 96 percent. A total of 32 percent of these children were able to get meals from American aid organizations; the task was to identify those most in need.

Extremely simple method

The selection method was scientifically developed and was based on the fact that in the numerical values ​​for normal adults the third power of the seat height (or the trunk length, the measure from the seat to the highest point of the head) corresponds to 10 times the body weight in grams . The calculation looks like this: Divide the body weight in grams multiplied by ten by the third power of the body seat height measured in centimeters. This would mean that an adult who weighs 72.9 kilograms (or 72900 grams) with a seat height of 90 cm would get a normal Pelidisi value of 100, which is calculated as follows:

(72900 [g] · 10): 90³ = 729000: 729000 = 1 (corresponds to 100 Pelidisi)

Since children have a lower percentage of body fat , the normal Pelidisi value for them is 94.5. In the time of need in Austria, children with a pelidisi of 94 were considered undernourished, those with 93 or less were given food immediately. This method excluded personal opinion and local influences and produced a satisfactory result. The examinations were repeated frequently and all children who showed sufficient improvement had to give way to those who needed more food. The subsequently dispensed amount of food was determined in a size calculated according to the NEM method (food unit milk).

ARA used the Pelidisi system only at the beginning and in urban facilities, even during the Russian famine of 1921 . With tens of millions of people starving, the limit below which children were fed had to be reduced to 92. If the method had still worked properly in Central Europe , the helpers now complained about inaccuracy in half of the cases. In addition, even for the business-like ARA, the method was felt to be too impersonal when dealing with starving children.

proof

literature

  • Clemens von Pirquet: An Outline of the Pirquet System of Nutrition , WB Saunders Company, Philadelphia 1922