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 1935
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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12
Clothing and
footwear.
When the children are undressed by the nurse preparatory to the medical
inspection, she enters on the medical record card a note of the condition of the clothing
and footwear. The results of this classification for 1934 and 1935 are given below.
Table 3—Clothing and footgear—Percentages.
| Age group. | 1934. | 1935. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good. | Fair. | Bad. | Good. | Fair. | Bad. | |
| Entrant boys | 52.7 | 46.7 | 0.6 | 56.5 | 43 0 | 0.5 |
| Entrant girls | 54.7 | 44.7 | 0.6 | 56.8 | 42.7 | 0.5 |
| Seven-year-old boys | 53.0 | 461 | 0.9 | 52.2 | 47.2 | 0.6 |
| Seven-year-old girls | 54.9 | 44.4 | 0.7 | 55.2 | 44.3 | 0.5 |
| Eleven-year-old boys | 53.7 | 45.6 | 0.7 | 52.0 | 47.6 | 0.6 |
| Eleven-year-old girls | 55.3 | 44.3 | 0.4 | 54.1 | 45.6 | 0.3 |
| Leaver boys | 52.4 | 470 | 0.6 | 51. 0 | 48.3 | 0.7 |
| Leaver girls | 55.1 | 44.5 | 0.4 | 55.0 | 44.8 | 0.2 |
Dental
decay.
The position with regard to the adequacy of clothing and footgear is now very
satisfactory. In earlier years the percentages of children with insufficient clothing
and inadequate footgear were much higher.
Following upon the smaller numbers of children reported as treated for dental
defect in 1933, the proportion of children in the three statutory age groups found
during 1934 in a satisfactory dental condition declined, being 65.7 compared with
67.4 per cent, in 1933 and 1932 respectively, but was still better than that for former
years, e.g., 64.4 per cent, in 1931 and 62.9 per cent, in 1930.
Following upon the improvement in economic conditions and redoubled efforts
on the part of social workers, there has been some recovery in 1935 of the lost
ground. Not only has there been an increase in the number of children treated, but
also an improvement in the figures derived from medical inspection. In 1935 the
percentage of children found in the statutory age groups with sound teeth was 66-6.
Details are given in the following table :—
Table 4.
| Ago group. | 1924. | 1927. | 1933. | 1934. | 1935. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound. | Serious decay. | Sound. | Serious decay. | Sound. | Serious decay. | Sound. | Serious decay. | Sound. | Serious decay. | |
| Entrants boys | 59.0 | 12.5 | 51.7 | 15.3 | 56.1 | 11.6 | 54.3 | 11 .3 | 56.8 | 9.7 |
| Entrants girls | 58.4 | 12.4 | 50.7 | 15.2 | 55.3 | 11.7 | 54.3 | 11 .4 | 54.8 | 100 |
| 8.year-old boys | 58.5 | 10.0 | 61.1 | 8.1 | 70.7 | 4.5 | *8.7 | *5.0 | *70.1 | *3.6 |
| 8-year-old girls | 58 0 | 10.2 | 60.9 | 8.3 | 69.9 | 4.4 | *67.6 | *5.5 | *69.4 | *3.7 |
| 12.year-old boys | 68.0 | 3.4 | 70.6 | 2.7 | 75.8 | 1.3 | †75 .9 | †1.5 | †76.l | †1.4 |
| 12.year-old girls | 70.5 | 2.6 | 72.3 | 2.3 | 77.0 | 11 | †77.9 | †l.2 | f77.3 | †1.0 |
| All above age groups | 62.1 | 8.5 | 60.3 | 9.3 | 67.4 | 5.8 | 65.7 | 6.3 | 66.6 | 5.3 |
* 7-year-old children.
† 11-year-old children.
N.B.—Serious decay means four or more carious teeth requiring treatment.
While the percentage of children with sound teeth has improved, the percentage
of those with serious, as opposed to slight, decay has declined, and fewer " bad
mouths " were found than ever before.
Vision.
All children in elementary schools, other than entrant infants, have their
distant visual acuity tested by means of the Snellen cards, those whose defects have
been corrected having their vision tested wearing their glasses. The results for
1935 are given in the table below in percentages, column 1 containing those with
normal visual acuity, column 2 those with slight defect, and column 3 those with
more serious defect.