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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The subjoined table gives figures for the past eleven years for entrants:— Table 3
| Boys | Girls | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Number inspected | Percentage with sound teeth | Percentage with serious decay | Number inspected | Percentage with sound teeth | Percentage with serious decay |
| 1927 | 39,199 | 51.7 | 15.3 | 38,790 | 50.7 | 15.2 |
| 1928 | 37,222 | 53.0 | 15.2 | 37,105 | 52 0 | 15.3 |
| 1929 | 38,347 | 53.3 | 15.9 | 37,677 | 52.3 | 15.6 |
| 1930 | 32,455 | 53.0 | 14.7 | 32,177 | 52.2 | 14.9 |
| 1931 | 34,250 | 54.2 | 13.2 | 34,033 | 53.6 | 13.5 |
| 1932 | 29,183 | 55.6 | 12.2 | 29,162 | 54.7 | 12.1 |
| 1933 | 28,086 | 56.1 | 11.6 | 27,575 | 55.3 | 11.7 |
| 1934 | 29,576 | 54.3 | 11.3 | 29,062 | 54.3 | 11.4 |
| 1935 | 28,485 | 56.8 | 9.7 | 27,106 | 54.8 | 10.0 |
| 1936 | 25,439 | 58.1 | 8.2 | 25,069 | 56.6 | 8.1 |
| 1937 | 24,637 | 58.7 | 8.2 | 24,052 | 571 | 8.4 |
Vision
All children in elementary schools, other than entrant infants, have their
distant visual acuity tested by means of the Snellen cards, those whose defects have
been corrected having their vision tested wearing their glasses. The results for
1936 and 1937 are given in the table below in percentages:—
Table 4
| Age group | Visual acuity (percentages) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Slight defect | More serious defect | |||||
| 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | ||
| Seven-year-old bovs | 63.5 | 64.1 | 25.1 | 24.7 | 11.4 | 11.2 | |
| Seven-year-old girls | 63.0 | 63.6 | 25.6 | 25.2 | 11.4 | 11.2 | |
| Eleven-year-old boys | 68.1 | 70.1 | 16.9 | 16.5 | 15.0 | 13.4 | |
| Eleven-year-old girls | 66.1 | 67.8 | 18.7 | 17.8 | 15.2 | 14.4 | |
| Leaver bovs | 68.3 | 70.8 | 15.5 | 14.7 | 16.2 | 14.5 | |
| Leaver girls | 66.6 | 68.2 | 17.0 | 16.7 | 16.4 | 15.1 | |
Satisfaction was expressed in recent reports that the excessive incidence of
visual defect on older girls compared with the boys, which was formerly such a
striking result of school medical inspection returns, had diminished as the result, it
was thought, of improvements in school hygiene, such as by a rule of the Education
Committee that sewing should not be done by artificial light unless the school
medical officer had given his consent after examination of the lighting.
The figures for 1937 show that there is again a heavier incidence upon older
girls, although the excess of visual defect in girls is much less than in former years,
and generally the figures for visual acuity in 1937 show a welcome improvement,
particularly at the higher ages.
Enlarged
tonsils and
adenoid
growths
In the prescribed age groups, 7,186 children were referred for some form of
treatment of enlarged tonsils or adenoid growths; this is 5.4 per cent. of the children
examined, compared with 5.0 per cent. in 1936, 6.6 per cent. in 1931, 6.7 per cent.
in 1930, and 7 per cent. in 1929. These nose and throat conditions are found chiefly
among the entrant group, many of the children in the older groups having already
been dealt with before their examination in those age groups. The percentages requiring
treatment for these conditions in the individual age groups were: entrant
boys 9.0, girls 8.2; 7-year-old boys 5.1, girls 5.3; 11-year-old boys 1.8, girls 2.4.
There has been a fall in recent years in the percentage of children referred for
treatment for enlarged tonsils and adenoid growths, though 1937 shows a slight
upward tendency. The older the children the fewer there are that suffer from ear,
nose and throat defects.