View report page

"At Risk" Register
There is a register of children who, because of some factor noted either before,
during or after birth, may be more liable than other children to suffer a mental or
physical abnormality.
The form of notification is completed by doctor or midwife and 382 such
notifications were received during the year, making a total of 994 children on the
register, of whom 111 had hearing tests at infant welfare clinics during the year.
These children are kept under observation by the assistant medical officers until
it is certain either that development is normal or that a defect is detected. Some
abnormality was found in three children, one had a malformed auricle and webbed
toes, one had significant hearing loss and cataracts, and one had a cleft palate and
was mentally subnormal. In addition, three other children were referred to the
audiology unit, but no hearing defect was found.
Incidence of Congenital Abnormalities Detectable at Birth
There is a procedure of standardised notification by the doctor or midwife in
charge to the Medical Officer of Health of all babies born with a detectable
abnormality. A return of all notifications (amounting to 62 for the year) was made
to the Registrar General. The figure for the country as a whole should prove a
valuable means of indicating hereditary, geographical, seasonal and other factors,
hitherto unknown, which may influence the development of congenital abnormalities.
Survey of Childhood Malignancies
An investigation into the causes of leukaemia and other malignant diseases in
childhood was started in 1955 by Dr. Alice Stewart, of the Department of Social
Medicine, Oxford University. Doctors from all over the country have participated,
and assistant medical officers of the London Borough of Enfield continued to take
part in the survey during 1965. A complete medical and family history is obtained
from the parents of children who have died of malignant disease, and a similar
history is completed for a series of carefully matched healthy children.
The main result of the survey so far has been to establish a relationship between
diagnostic X-ray procedures on the foetus and the development of leukaemia in
early childhood. The work is continuing and a further report is expected in due
course.
14