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40
Chronic invalidity.
The school attendance department reports each month the names of children
who have been absent from school for three months or more on account of illness.
Each year the cases on the list for the month of November are analysed, and the result
gives the only index available of the causes of chronic invalidity in childhood.
The returns were formerly dealt with at the head office, but in 1934, it was
found more convenient for them to be received at the local divisional medical of&ces,
where action could be more quickly taken in appropriate cases.
The subjoined table shows the number of children reported to have been out of
school for more than three months in November, 1935, and comparative figures for
the four preceding years. The reduction in the numbers between 1933 and 1934 is
due to the fact that the majority of the children who are ill for long periods are dealt
with at the Council's special children's hospitals. In 1933 these were recognised by
the Board of Education as hospital schools. The children who are at these hospitals
are therefore no longer accounted "out of school," and no longer appear as in
former years in the returns.
The number of children (232) absent on account of rheumatism, chorea and
heart disease still forms a very high proportion of the total and proves how largely
this group of diseases is responsible for ill.health in childhood, especially among girls,
who account for half as many cases again compared with boys. These include
children who are being nursed at home, are in voluntary hospitals or institutions
and in the Council's general hospitals. Since July, 1935, steps have been taken to
expedite the removal of such children as were in the Council's general hospitals,
where education is not provided, into the hospital schools. Nervous disorders (including
18 cases of epilepsy and 6 of encephalitis lethargica) accounted for 61
children. Ringworm, formerly a chief cause of prolonged absence from school,
accounts for only 2 cases, compared with 129 in 1919. Since the introduction of X.
ray treatment for ringworm, the average length of absence has steadily declined and
consequent upon the shorter period of infectivity the danger of the spread of the
disease has likewise diminished. Tuberculosis was the cause in 67 cases.
Among other ailments, respiratory diseases, other than tuberculosis, accounted
for 41 cases, and ear disease for 25.
In spite of the greater incidence of the rheumatic diseases upon girls (134 as
against 98 in boys), the total invalidity amongst girls is less during 1935 than that
amongst boys (369 to 381). There were 17 boy cripples and 11 girl cripples. These
are children with spinal or lower limb disease who are either unable to walk or require
assistance in walking, and are returned by the attendance officers simply as
"cripples."