London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
17
to year the fluctuations are minute, and each year each age-group preserves its own
distinctive features. Thus the 7-year-old boys always present the greatest proportion
of subnormal cases, which is in accordance with physiological expectation. Leaver
children always present the lowest proportion of subnormality, and girls are always
better nourished than boys in each age-group. While the groups differ in their characteristics,
fluctuations from year to year in each group are, like the total figures, exceedingly
small (see percentages in table 10). These facts give grounds for placing
reliance upon the returns for the purpose of assessing nutritional state and for
comparison from year to year.
Table 8—
| Group | Numbers examined | Nutrition | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent | Normal | Subnormal | Bad | ||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Entrant boys | 24,048 | 3,400 | 18,980 | 1,649 | 19 |
| Entrant girls | 23,253 | 3,829 | 18,037 | 1,371 | 16 |
| Seven-year-old boys | 19,436 | 2,169 | 15,410 | 1,837 | 20 |
| Seven-year-old girls | 19,608 | 3,122 | 14,926 | 1,542 | 18 |
| Eleven-year-old boys | 20,757 | 2,787 | 16,501 | 1,464 | 5 |
| Eleven-year-old girls | 20,819 | 3,673 | 15,807 | 1,330 | 9 |
| Leaver boys | 21,014 | 3,878 | 16,141 | 987 | 8 |
| Leaver girls | 21,060 | 4,748 | 15,428 | 879 | 5 |
| Total | 169,995 | 27,606 | 131,230 | 11,059 | 100 |
| — | 16.2 | 77.2 | 6.54 | .06 | |
Corresponding figures for the previous year are shown in the following table :— Table 9—
| Group | Numbers examined | Nutrition | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent 1 | Normal 2 | Subnormal 3 | Bad 4 | ||
| Entrant bovs | 24,637 | 3,472 | 19,463 | 1,679 | 23 |
| Entrant girls | 24,052 | 3,970 | 18,741 | 1,321 | 20 |
| Seven-year-old boys | 20,029 | 2,416 | 15,821 | 1,778 | 14 |
| Seven-year-old girls | 19,988 | 3,091 | 15,396 | 1,482 | 19 |
| Eleven-year-old boys | 21,430 | 2,915 | 17,090 | 1,418 | 7 |
| Eleven-year-old girls | 21,705 | 3,928 | 16,482 | 1,283 | 12 |
| Leaver boys | 24,029 | 4,381 | 18,628 | 1,013 | 7 |
| Leaver girls | 24,195 | 5,616 | 17,668 | 906 | 5 |
| Total | 180,065 | 29,789 | 139,289 | 10,880 | 107 |
Table 10—
| Group | Nutrition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent 1 | Normal 2 | Sub-normal (and bad) 3 | ||||
| 1937 | 1938 | 1937 | 1938 | 1937 | 1938 | |
| Entrant boys | 14.1 | 14.1 | 79.0 | 78.9 | 6.9 | 7.0 |
| Entrant girls | 16.5 | 16.5 | 77.9 | 77.5 | 5.6 | 6.0 |
| Seven-year-old boys | 120 | 11.2 | 79.0 | 79.3 | 9.0 | 9.5 |
| Seven-year-old girls | 15.5 | 15.9 | 77.0 | 76.1 | 7.5 | 8.0 |
| Eleven.year-old bovs | 13.6 | 13.4 | 79.7 | 79.5 | 6.7 | 7.1 |
| Eleven-year-old girls | 18.1 | 17.7 | 75.9 | 75.9 | 6.0 | 6.4 |
| Leaver boys | 18.2 | 18.5 | 77.6 | 76.8 | 4.2 | 4.7 |
| Leaver girls | 23.2 | 22.5 | 73.0 | 73.3 | 3.8 | 4.2 |
The percentage of children examined who were assessed as below normal in
nutrition was, 6.6 in 1938, and 6.1 in 1937. The number of children who were found