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Defects of the nose and throat are once again the commonest
defects found, but the percentage is lower for all groups than in
1929. The entrant group is the worst and the leaver the best.
Undernutrition is found in about 16 per cent. of all children examined
and the interesting finding is once more noted that the Intermediate
group (8-9 years) give the worst figures. The reasons for
this are difficult to find, but perhaps a slackening of parental
control, consequent upon the need for looking after younger members
of the family, combined with the, not as yet fully developed,
capacity of the child to look after himself, may have some relation
to the matter. Girls showed a rather higher proportion of undernourished
children than boys. A slightly greater percentage of
children showed defective nutrition in 1930 as compared with 1929.
The findings for Dental Defects is what might te expected in view
of the present rather casual supervision of children of pre-school
age. It must be noted that, although facilities exist for the detection
and treatment of dental disease before school age, parents do
not avail themselves of them to any very great extent. Throughout
the girls show rather better findings than the boys. A slight increase
in the total of dental defects is seen over 1929. Enlarged cervical
glands, which have a relation both to dental defects and to undernutrition
were commonest in the intermediate group, and were
more often found in boys than girls. There is a big drop in the
percentages as compared with 1929. Defective vision increased as
age increased and the effect of scholastic routine, together with the
strain of bodily growth must be held to be the main cause of this
finding. The girls suffered more than the boys—the usual finding—
but as a whole there were fewer cases of defective vision than in
1929. As children who are wearing spectacles which correct vision
are included as having normal vision, the more common practice of
wearing spectacles may mask the actual amount of defective
vision.
It is a recognised finding that vision is more defective in
secondary than in elementary schools, but in the latter there does
not appear to be any one prominent factor. It was, unfortunately,
not possible, owing to pressure of routine duties, for the medical
officers to conduct an investigation into the relationship, if any,
between lighting, position of desks, etc., and the amount of visual
subnormality.
The following Table has not been included in previous
reports, and was compiled from the findings at Routine Medical
Inspections, in order to ascertain the comparative amount of