London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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London County Council 1944

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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1944 105,968 67.4
44
Re-inspections of children previously noted with defects totalled 52,285. These
inspections showed that, excluding dental cases, 89.3 per cent, were treated or
discharged as no longer needing treatment; the remainder were still to be followed
up. In addition, 30,360 inspections were made of children who were being given
school meals on the advice of school doctors, head teachers or school care
committees, and 28,582 of children about whom advice was required by teachers,
care committees, etc.
Including the evacuation examinations and the children seen in schools and at
day centres for the treatment of rheumatism, vision, ear and nutritional defects,
the total number of inspections made was 352,169, exclusive of 12,683 carried out
at higher education institutions. These compare with 291,719 and 12,320 for 1943.

The percentage of children in each age group where nutritional condition was unsatisfactory (either slightly or grossly subnormal) is shown below:—

Age group—boys and girls—194419431938
Entrants5.906.676.46
7 years old7.657.988.75
11 years old5.835.756.75
Leavers (13 †)3.753.864.47

Nutrition
The nutritional condition of the great majority of children still continues to
be satisfactory.

The following comparisons relate to the children examined in the four age groups in the two most recent war-time years, and those examined in the same age groups in 1938, the last complete pre-war year of medical inspection:—

Numbers examined1944 79,3981943 96,902 Percentages1938 169,995
Nutrition unsatisfactory5.656.006.6
Nits or pediculi—hair1.752.152.3
Teeth—obvious decay26.3331.0129.8
Vision—6/9 or worse (excluding entrants)23.7622.6132.2
Adenoids and enlarged tonsils6.57.69.2
Skin diseases1.51.81.0
Enlarged glands1.01.21.5
External eye disease1.71.91.7
Otorrhœa0.50.50.6
Defective hearing0.30.30.2
Heart disease0.70.81.4
Anæmia0.30.30.4
Lung disease (not T.B.)1.21.31.5
Tuberculosis (pulmonary)0.060.070.04
,, (other lesions)0.050.10.02
Rickets (boys—entrants only)1.21.41.0
(girls—entrants onlv0.90.90.4

Thus every age group shows an improvement over the 1938 assessments, although
the 11 year olds in 1944 show a slight retrogression on the 1943 results. Satisfaction
can be felt in regard to the improved physical condition of the entrants who in the
previous war-time years had shown a deterioration on the 1938 estimations.
Dental
conditions
Dental conditions noted at the routine age group medical inspections, which
showed some retrogression in 1941, when the percentage of children with unsound
teeth was recorded at 41 -4, are now showing an improvement on the pre-war standard.
This is confirmed by the results of inspections by the dental surgeons, analyses of
whose figures are :—
Year
Children
inspected
Percentage noted
for treatment
1938 292.971 69 0
1941 62,631 79.4
1942 103.285 75.2
1943 136,239 700
The percentage of children in each age group where nutritional condition was
unsatisfactory (either slightly or grossly subnormal) is shown below:—
Age group—boys and girls—
1944
1943
1938
Entrants
5.90
6.67
6.46
7 years old
7.65
7.98
8.75
11 years old
5.83
5.75
6.75
Leavers (13 †)
3.75
3.86
4.47
Thus every age group shows an improvement over the 1938 assessments, although
the 11 year olds in 1944 show a slight retrogression on the 1943 results. Satisfaction
can be felt in regard to the improved physical condition of the entrants who in the
previous war-time years had shown a deterioration on the 1938 estimations.