Medical disorders in a small Caribbean island. An analysis of the disease of adults in Dominica in 1972 and 1973.

An analysis was undertaken, for the first time, of the total picture of the medical disorders of adults on a small Caribbean island. At present non-infectious diseases, especially diabetes and hypertension, are of major improtance. Parasitic infestation of the gut occurred in 50-60% of the hospital population. The pattern of diseases indicates that the island is in a transitional stage of its medical development, and that resources need not be directed to the curative as well as to public health programmes. The impact of peculiarities of local geography and customs are discussed as contributing to some of the more unusual diseases of the Caribbean.