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
Croydon 1933
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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252
The figures indicate that some 35 per cent. of children
entering school have perfect sets of teeth. This is a low percentage
and is the outcome of the relative neglect of the teeth
during pre-school age. The importance of this period cannot be
loo strongly emphasised. The school medical service, in this
regard, as in others of a similar character, is a receiver of damaged
goods. With a proper system of inspection and treatment of the
pre-school child much avoidable ill-health and physical defect in
young school children would be abolished.
The proper care of the teeth before school age is reached
would lead to much less attention being necessary during school
age. The Leaver group gave the best findings, a result brought
about by the work of the School Dental Service.
| Condition | Enti ants. | Intermediates. | Leavers. | Other Ages | All Groups | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys | Girl | Hoys | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | |
| Cleanliness— | ||||||||||
| (Percentage clean) | ||||||||||
| Mead | 99.8 | 98.1 | 99.3 | 98.4 | 99.5 | 98.2 | 97.1 | 98.9 | 99.5 | 88.7 |
| Body | 99.4 | 99.7 | 99.3 | 99.8 | 99.3 | 99.7 | 97.1 | 99.4 | 99.3 | 99.7 |
| Clothing (satisfactory) | 99.6 | 99.0 | 97.8 | 99.1 | 99.3 | 99.2 | 97 .8 | 98.3 | 98.9 | 99.1 |
| Footgear do. | 99.7 | 99.1 | 97.8 | 99.1 | 99.0 | 99.3 | 97 1 | 98.3 | 98.8 | 99.1 |
| Nutrition (normal) | 86.2 | 90.5 | 84.5 | 81.7 | 87.0 | 83.6 | 67.4 | 68.4 | 85.4 | 84.7 |
| Defects — | ||||||||||
| Circulatory System | 12 0 | 6 6 | 5 5 | 6.0 | 5 7 | 11.1 | 5.8 | 6.8 | 7.6 | 7.9 |
| Pulmonary System (defects not t.B.) | 5.4 | 5.7 | 3 7 | 3 4 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 2 2 | 2.3 | 3.6 | 3 5 |
| Skin Disease | 3 5 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.0 |
| Defects of Nose and Throat | 33.9 | 33.6 | 22 0 | 23.1 | 13.6 | 17.9 | 29 0 | 22.0 | 23.2 | 25.0 |
| Enlarged Cervical Glands | 22.5 | 20.1 | 12.1 | 13.4 | 9 1 | 6.4 | 14.5 | 11.3 | 14.4 | 13.4 |
| External Eye Disease | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| Defective Vision | ... | ... | 4.3 | 5.2 | 7.6 | 8.2 | 7.2 | 5.1 | 6.0 | 66 |
| Defective Hearing | 0.3 | 0 4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Speech Defects | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Dental Disease (more than lour decayed) | 27.7 | 24 7 | 14.4 | 16.8 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 8.7 | 15.8 | 15.1 | 15.7 |
| Dull and Backward | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1 1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0 8 |
The above Table gives in a concise form the results of findings
at Routine Medical Inspections.
Defects of the nose and throat are once again the commonest
defects found, though there is a slight drop on last year's findings.
The Entrant group is the worst and the Leaver the best. Undernutrition
is found in about 15 per cent. of all children examined.