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53
It will be noted that the incidence of "heart disease" is declining. This has
been the trend for many years. It may be associated with the general decline in
streptococcal diseases but one likes to think that the Council's scheme for dealing
with juvenile rheumatism has played a part.
The nutritional condition of the great majority of children still continued to Nutrition
be satisfactory.
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—
1945
1944
1943
1938
Entrants
5.55
5.90
6.67
6.46
7 years old
7.30
7.65
7.98
8.75
11 years old
5.13
5.83
5.75
6.75
Leavers (13 +)
3.75
3.75
3.86
4.47
Every age group showed an improvement over the 1938 assessments and, except
for leavers which gave the same percentage as in 1944, over the assessments for the
two previous years. Satisfaction can be felt in regard to the improved physical
condition of the entrants who in the earlier war-time years had shown a deterioration
on the 1938 estimations.
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, continue to show an improvement on the pre-war
standard, except as regards the seven year old group. The results given below of the
more exacting inspections by the dental surgeons, however, do not altogether confirm
this finding but show an increase of 2.5 per cent. requiring treatment in 1945 over the
1944 figure. This increase is probably due to the mass movement of children back
to London and to the more intensive dental inspections. Analyses of the results
of inspections by the dental surgeons are as follows:—
Children Percentage noted
Year inspected for treatment
1938 292,971 69.7
1941 62,631 79.4
1942 103,285 75.2
1943 136,239 70.0
1944 105,968 67.4
1945 92,227 69.9
The children inspected by the dental surgeons are spread over all ages and are
not confined, as are the medical inspection returns, to the four routine age groups.
Dental
conditions
An improvement was noted, as a result of medical inspections, in the condition
of the hair in each sex in each age group on the corresponding figures in the previous
war years (except for two groups of boys in 1942), and also in every category
compared with 1938, and these findings were borne out by the school nurses'
inspections. The percentage reported by the latter as verminous was 6.06, compared
with 6.39 in 1944. Skin diseases showed a slight increase compared with 1944, and
the percentage (1.6) is still above that of 1938, which was 1.0 per cent.
Cleanliness
Two of the Borough Councils in west London continued to provide free shower
baths for school children and 12,683 baths were thus given in 1945. One of the
Council's school nurses attends these bathing centres and children found to be
verminous are sent to be cleansed before they are allowed to use the baths.
Bathing of
schoolchildren
Medical treatment
The following table gives for 1945, 1944, 1943, 1942 and 1938 the
numbers of "new" cases treated (a) at the treatment centres and hospitals