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 1962
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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T able (i)
| Age | Principal cause of defective vision | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cataract | Glaucoma | Retrolental fibroplasia | Other conditions | ||
| 0-4 years | 1 | - | - | 4 | |
| 5-15 years | 2 | - | - | 2 | |
| 16-64 years | 12 | 15 | - | 159 | 186 |
| 65-74 years | 57 | 38 | - | 152 | 247 |
| 75 years and over | 179 | 74 | - | 325 | 578 |
| Age not known | 4 | 7 | - | 15 | 26 |
| 255 | 134 | - | 657 | 1,046 | |
| 170 | 105 | - | 317 | 592 | |
| (b) as percentage of (a) | 78.4 | - | 48.2 | 56.6 | |
T able (ii)
| Treatment recommended | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of patients examined | None | Medical | Surgical | Optical | Hospital supervision | |||
| Early | Later | If general condition permits | ||||||
| Cataract | 255 | 85 | 11 | 47 | 26 | 17 | 21 | 106 |
| Glaucoma | 134 | 29 | 29 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 91 |
| Other conditions | 657 | 340 | 68 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 30 | 258 |
| Total | 1,046 | 454 | 108 | 62 | 40 | 28 | 59 | 455 |
*Includes cases recommended more than one form of treatment.
Persons recommended to obtain treatment are re-examined at intervals after the initial
registration. The number of persons re-examined for this reason in 1962 is shown in
table (iii).
T able (iii)
| Principal cause of defective vision | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cataract | Glaucoma | Retrolental fibroplasia | Other conditions | ||
| No. of persons re-examined | 209 | 71 | 1 | 316 | 597 |
| No. found to have had treatment | 149 | 67 | — | 216 | 432 |
| Percentage treated | 71.3 | 94.4 | — | 68.4 | 72.4 |
As a consequence of successful treatment 12 persons previously registered as blind
were found, on re-examination, to be partially-sighted and eight persons previously certified
as blind or partially-sighted were found to be improved to such an extent as no longer to
justify registration.
Notifications of ophthalmia neonatorum are given on page 23.
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