View report page

112
These malformations are notified to the Department and summaries
are forwarded to the Department of Health and Social
Security in accordance with the scheme which has been in operation
since January 1st, 1964. We are grateful for the co-operation of
all doctors and midwives working in the Borough for their help
in providing these statistics. It must be appreciated that the diagnosis
of some congenital malformations causes difficulties during
the neo-natal period.
Compared with 1967 there was a slight increase in the
percentage of infants who had two co-existing congenital malformations
and there was also an increase in the number of
children with defects of the urogenital system, but otherwise there
was a decrease in the number of notified congenital abnormalities.
Anencephaly—Of all the malformations recorded, most research
has been carried out in respect of anencephaly perhaps because this
is a condition which is easily and reliably identified. Statistics with
regard to this defect, therefore, tend to reflect the true position.
In Greenwich, the 1968 rate for 1,000 total notified births was
1.73 compared with a figure of 1.47 for England and Wales and
1.30 for the South East Region for the year 1967.
Mongolism—'This is another reasonably easily identified defect
with a local rate for 1968 of 0.89 per 1,000 total births. Rates for
England and Wales and the South East Region for 1967 are 0.72
and 0.71 respectively.
"At Risk" Register
The well-established scheme continued for the regular review of
all infants at risk of developing mental or physical handicaps
These infants were detected from notifications received from all
midwives. As in 1967, approximately one-third of all infants born
to Greenwich residents were found to be "At Risk", but the
majority developed normally and most were removed from the
Register at the end of the first year or eighteen months of life when
development was found to be satisfactory. During 1968, there
were six infants on the "At Risk" Register, who were observed
because they were at risk of becoming "battered babies".
At the end of 1968 there were 2,280 children listed compared
with 1,869 in 1967 and 1,486 in 1966.