London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Croydon 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
This page requires JavaScript
261
In the Intermediate group 8.2 per cent. of the boys and 7.9 per
cent. of the girls were referred for treatment or observation for
defective vision, and in the Leaver group 8.6 per cent. of the boys
and 10.5 per cent. of the girls. The Leaver group of girls invariably
gives the worst figures for vision.
| Extent of Defect. | Intermediate. | Leavers. | Total. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | |||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | % | % | |
| Normal: R | 1470 | 95.2 | 1559 | 94.5 | 1040 | 96.7 | 859 | 94.6 | 95.8 | 94.5 |
| 6/6ths or 6/9ths L | 1458 | 94.4 | 1542 | 93.5 | 1033 | 96.0 | 851 | 93.7 | 95.0 | 93.5 |
| 6/12ths or 6/24ths R | 67 | 4.3 | 80 | 4.8 | 29 | 2.7 | 34 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 4.5 |
| 77 | 5.0 | 92 | 5.6 | 33 | 3.1 | 46 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 5.4 | |
| 6/36ths or worse R | 8 | 0.5 | 11 | 0.7 | 7 | 0.6 | 15 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| 10 | 0.6 | 16 | 1.0 | 10 | 0.9 | 11 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.1 | |
Table VI.
| Entrants. | Intermediate. | Leavers. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | |||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| Perfect set of Teeth | 929 | 61.4 | 831 | 59.3 | 1117 | 72.3 | 1147 | 69.5 | 587 | 54.6 | 665 | 73.2 |
| One to four Decayed | 319 | 21.1 | 298 | 21.3 | 272 | 17.6 | 323 | 19.6 | 374 | 34.7 | 187 | 20.6 |
| Four or more Decayed | 265 | 17.5 | 271 | 19.4 | 156 | 10.1 | 180 | 10.9 | 115 | 10.7 | 56 | 6.2 |
| Totals | 1513 | 1400 | 1545 | 1650 | 1076 | 908 | ||||||
It is interesting to note that 5,293 children of all groups, or
65.2 per cent., were said to have sound teeth at medical inspection.
The percentage of sound teeth found by the Dental Inspectors was
28 per cent. The examination made by the dentists is more searching
than that made by the medical inspectors, who are instructed
to concentrate rather on purely medical signs.