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 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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It must be remembered that the parents are warned of the medical inspections
upon which these figures are based, and the children appear spick and span for the
occasion. The figures given in these results are therefore better than would be the
case at surprise inspections, such as those carried out by the nurses in their rota visits
to the schools. It is, however, impossible for the parents to eradicate at short notice
the traces of persistent neglect. It is a pleasure to record that the mothers of the
children have responded so well to the persistent advice of the school nurses.
It is now very rare for the school doctor to find a child actually infested with
body vermin, a condition which 3 to 4 per cent. of the elementary school children
exhibited in the early days of medical inspection. Only 72 children were found in
the statutory age groups to be affected by body vermin in 1937, out of 131,841
examined.
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 1936 and 1937 are given below.
Clothing and
footwear
Table 1.—Clothing and footgear—Percentages
| Age group | 1936 | 1937 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Fair | Bad | Good | Fair | Bad | |
| Entrant boys | 57.0 | 42-6 | 0-4 | 57.4 | 42.2 | 0.4 |
| Entrant girls | 58.6 | 41.0 | 0.4 | 58.9 | 40.8 | 0.3 |
| Seven-year.old boys | 55.1 | 44.5 | 0.4 | 55.4 | 44.2 | 0.4 |
| Seven-year.old girls | 56.8 | 42.9 | 0.3 | 56.6 | 43.2 | 0.2 |
| Eleven-year.old boys | 55.2 | 44.3 | 0.5 | 52.8 | 46.8 | 0.4 |
| Eleven-year.old girls | 57.5 | 42.2 | 0.3 | 55.7 | 44.0 | 0.3 |
| Leaver boys | 53.0 | 46.5 | 0.5 | 51.3 | 48.2 | 0.5 |
| Leaver girls | 57.9 | 42.0 | 0.1 | 56.4 | 43.4 | 0.2 |
In earlier years the percentages of children with insufficient clothing and
inadequate footgear were much higher.
In 1937, the percentage of children found by the school doctors in the statutory
age groups with sound teeth was 68.3 compared with 68.5 in 1936, and 66.6 in 1935.
A comparison with former years is shown in the following table:—
Dental
decay
Table 2
| Age group | 1924 | 1927 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | Serious decay' | Sound | Serious decay | Sound | Serious decay | Sound | Serious decay | Sound | Serious decay | |
| Entrant boys | 59.0 | 12.5 | 51.7 | 15.3 | 56.8 | 9.7 | 58.1 | 8.2 | 58.7 | 8.2 |
| Entranc girls | 58.4 | 12.4 | 50.7 | 15.2 | 54.8 | 10.0 | 56.6 | 8.1 | 57.1 | 8.4 |
| 7 or 8-year-old boys | 58.5 | 100 | 61 .1 | 81 | 70.1 | 3.6 | 72.1 | 3.2 | 71.1 | 3.5 |
| 7 or 8-year-old girls | 58.0 | 10.2 | 60.9 | 8.3 | 69.4 | 3.7 | 71.0 | 3.4 | 69.7 | 3.7 |
| 11 or 12-year-old boys | 68.0 | 3.4 | 70.6 | 2.7 | 76.1 | 1.4 | 77.1 | 1.0 | 77.7 | 1.0 |
| 11 or 12.year.old girls | 70.5 | 2.6 | 72.3 | 2.3 | 77.3 | 1.0 | 78.7 | 0.8 | 78.7 | 0.9 |
| All above age groups | 62.1 | 8.5 | 60.3 | 9.3 | 66.6 | 5.3 | 68.5 | 4.3 | 68.3 | 4.5 |
N.B.—Serious decay means four or more carious teeth requiring treatment.
It must be remembered that these figures represent only the impressions recorded
by the school doctors, and do not correspond with the findings of the school
dentists making special inspections with mirror and probe. Nevertheless, the improvement
over former years, especially as regards the diminution of oral sepsis,
is noteworthy, although it is not possible to record any improvement in dental conditions
in 1937 compared with 1936.