An observational and descriptive study of the epidemiology of chronic diseases in Physical Education classes in secondary education was carri ed out. It was conducted in 36 educational centers of the Autonomous Community of Madrid (Spain), in 4 527 students, from 2003 to 2009. A questionnaire was used as data collection techniques.
It revealed that a large number of students showed at least one chronic disease (53.19%) with a large amount of those suffering from multiple medical conditions (21.06%). The most prevalent illnesses include visual disturbances and eye diseases (44.37%), allergies (16.37%), misaligned teeth (8.61%), asthma (8.49%), sco liosis and kyphoscoliosis (6.29%). The most important chronic pathologies show a "prevalence pattern" which includes the previously mentioned diseases.
The most common diseases in the analyzed chronology are compatible with the performance of the Physical Education lesson, but they may undermine its development if ignored.