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
Greenwich 1965
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough]
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98
Congenital Malformations
Congenital malformations continued to be notified to the
department by all midwives with summaries forwarded to the
Ministry of Health in accordance with the scheme introduced on
1st January, 1964.
Notification of malformations in new born babies has as its
object the early detection of trends which may arise from the use
of drugs or exposure to environmental factors during the mother's
pregnancy. As information is required as early as possible, in
practice, this means that only those malformations observable at
birth tend to be reported. Obviously the success of the scheme is
dependent not only upon the support given by the doctors, hospital
staffs and midwives, but also upon the types of malformations
presenting and the difficulty of diagnosis of some of these proximal
to parturition.
The following table gives information regarding malformations notified to the department during 1965 compared with those returned for England and Wales during 1964.
| Site | No. Notified | Rates per 1,000 Total Births | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich 1965 | England & Wales 1964 | ||
| ALL SITES | 117 | 30.75 | 20.03 |
| Central Nervous System | 36 | 9.46 | 4.67 |
| Eye, ear | 8 | 2.10 | 0.62 |
| Alimentary system | 4 | 1.05 | 2.15 |
| Heart and great vessels | 2 | 0.52 | 0.93 |
| Respiratory system | 4 | 1.05 | 0.24 |
| Uro-genital system | 5 | 1.31 | 1.52 |
| Limbs | 39 | 10.51 | 6.71 |
| Other skeletal | 3 | 0.78 | 0.54 |
| Other systems | 12 | 3.15 | 1.46 |
| Other malformations | 4 | 1.05 | 1.16 |
NOTE :—This table indicates the number of malformations NOT
the number of children.
9 children presented 2 malformations
4 children presented 3 malformations
2 children presented 4 malformations