[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council] page 100

London County Council 1956

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

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Table: Pupils referred for treatment

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Pupils referred for treatment

Age group and sex		1954	1955	1956
Nursery	Boys	12.7	11.1	10.9
Nursery	Girls	10.3	8.4	8.2
Entrants	Boys	13.8	12.4	11.5
Entrants	Girls	11.9	10.5	9.7
7 years old	Boys	16.8	15.3	15.3
7 years old	Girls	15.4	14.1	14.0
11 years old	Boys	14.5	14.0	13.7
11 years old	Girls	15.9	14.6	14.2
Leavers	Boys	11.7	11.6	10.4
Leavers	Girls	15.6	14.9	13.4
Other ages	Boys	16.3	15.4	14.4
Other ages	Girls	18.2	17.7	15.7
All pupils*		14.8	13.7	12.9

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* Exclusive of special schools, training colleges and annual surveys in secondary schools.

Table: The following table shows the percentages of the principal defects (other than infestation, teeth or errors of refraction) found in pupils of all age groups inspected at general medical inspections and referred for treatment or observation, with comparable figures for 1954 and 1955.

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The following table shows the percentages of the principal defects (other than infestation, teeth or errors of refraction) found in pupils of all age groups inspected at general medical inspections and referred for treatment or observation, with comparable figures for 1954 and 1955.

	1954	1955	1956
Numbers examined	186,774	176,637	163,489
		Percentages
Skin diseases	1.39	1.35	1.10
External eye diseases	0.72	0.58	0.57
Defective hearing	0.59	0.59	0.60
Otitis media	0.74	0.66	0.66
Enlarged tonsils and adenoids	6.92	5.97	5.88
Defective speech	0.72	0.75	0.77
Enlarged cervical glands	1.45	1.30	1.22
Heart and circulation	0.87	0.79	0.74
Lung disease (not T.B.)	1.55	1.41	1.35
Orthopaedic defects	5.10	4.82	4.41
Defects of nervous system	0.37	0.39	0.34
Psychological defects	0.97	0.97	0.94
Anaemia	0.19	0.14	0.13
Enuresis	1.56	1.57	1.62

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* Excluding special schools, training colleges and annual surveys in secondary schools.
Compared with 1955 a reduction in the number of skin diseases was shown in all
groups except girls in the nursery and entrant groups, whilst all age groups showed
lower rates for orthopaedic defects.
In the case of the all other defects there was insufficient variation in the figures to
justify comment.
Tonsillectomy
In September, 1955, with a view to initiating a study of tonsillectomy in children, the
Ministry of Education asked if it could be arranged for examining medical officers to
record whether or not each child examined at routine medical inspections at day
and nursery schools and classes from 1st January, 1956, onwards (i.e., in subsequent
years also) had undergone tonsillectomy at any time previously.
The tabulated results of this inquiry show that of nearly 140,000 children inspected in
five age groups, 19.8 per cent. had previously undergone tonsillectomy, the rate rising
from 4.7 per cent. in the nursery group to 30.8 per cent. in the leavers' group, with
sightly more boys than girls having had the operation in all age groups except leavers.
Currently the greatest number of tonsillectomy operations are performed on children
aged between 5 and 11 years, with rather more between 5 and 7 than between 7 and 11.
100

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

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London County Council 1956

Table: Pupils referred for treatment

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Table: The following table shows the percentages of the principal defects (other than infestation, teeth or errors of refraction) found in pupils of all age groups inspected at general medical inspections and referred for treatment or observation, with comparable figures for 1954 and 1955.

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