London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1927
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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TABLE I. Medical Inspections, 1927. (a) ROUTINE INSPECTIONS. (b) OTHER INSPECTIONS.
| Age group. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entrants | 39,199 | 38,790 | 77,989 | Special inspections* (1) (2) | 19,044 | 18,985 | 38,029 |
| Age 8 | 28,452 | 27,565 | 56,017 | 23,784 | 20,581 | 44,365 | |
| Age 12 | 29,949 | 29,921 | 59,870 | Re-inspections...... | — | — | 193,260 |
| Leavers | 29,981 | 30,316 | 60,297 | ||||
| Total— Elementary schools | 127,581 | 126,592 | 254,173 | ||||
| Special Schools | 1,087 | 863 | 1,950 |
* (1) Special cases where individual notes are made. (2) Cases seen en masse where individual notes are
not made unless the child requires treatment or observation, e.g., camp school nominations, school journey
children, employment cases' etc. (infectious disease contacts are not included in this figure).
TABLE II. (a) Defects found at Medical Inspections in 1927. ELEMENTARY AND SPECIAL SCHOOLS.
| Disease or defect. | Routine inspections. | Special inspections. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defects. | Defects. | |||||
| Requiring treatment. | Requiring observation. | Requiring treatment. | Requiring observation only. | |||
| E.S. | S.S. | E.S. | S.S. | |||
| Malnutrition Skin— | 857 | 13 | 991 | 3 | 446 | 237 |
| Ringworm—Head | 10 | 1 | — | 47 | 25 | |
| Body | 67 | 1 | 2 | — | 17 | 4 |
| Scabies | 101 | 3 | — | — | 270 | 131 |
| Impetigo | 449 | 3 | 3 | — | 520 | 63 |
| Other disease (non-tubercular) | 1,111 | 3 | 115 | — | 876 | 116 |
| Eye— Blepharitis | 1,112 | 5 | 92 | 1 | 349 | 28 |
| Conjunctivitis | 339 | 6 | 22 | 1 | 291 | 18 |
| Keratitis | 2 | — | — | — | 16 | 7 |
| Corneal opacities | 26 | — | 6 | — | 57 | 17 |
| Defective vision (excluding squint) | 20,873 | 156 | 6,485 | 88 | 3,520 | 376 |
| Squint | 1,795 | 10 | 460 | — | 637 | 63 |
| Other conditions | 258 | 2 | 61 | — | 200 | 24 |
| Ear— Defective hearing | 467 | 19 | 244 | 6 | 363 | 180 |
| Otitis media | 1,939 | 30 | 594 | 2 | 908 | 247 |
| Other ear disease or defect | 785 | 2 | 208 | — | 300 | 64 |
| Nose and throat— Enlarged tonsils | 10,057 | 38 | 8,307 | 29 | 2,630 | 561 |
| Adenoids | 1,269 | 11 | 682 | 1 | 581 | 69 |
| Enlarged tonsils and adenoids | 3,370 | 20 | 840 | 3 | 897 | 50 |
| Other conditions | 1,289 | 15 | 478 | 1 | 545 | 158 |
| Enlarged cervical glands (non-tubercular) | 705 | 5 | 2,335 | 7 | 261 | 216 |
| Defective speech | 116 | — | 208 | 4 | 136 | 72 |
| Teeth, dental disease | 78,492 | 448 | 1,146 | 2 | 5,354 | 92 |
| Heart and circulation— | ||||||
| Heart disease—Organic | 43 | — | 116 | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| Functional | 27 | 1 | 379 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Not stated | 204 | 1 | 3,817 | 19 | 445 | 989 |
| Anæmia | 1,340 | 18 | 1,093 | 3 | 1,046 | 332 |
| Lungs— | ||||||
| Bronchitis | 1,441 | 4 | 1,852 | 10 | 463 | 238 |
| Other non-tubercular | 282 | 1 | 967 | 3 | 211 | 356 |