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the other was found to be partially hearing and was recommended to be fitted with
a hearing aid.
In addition, two children on the register under the care of a consultant at a local
hospital were referred to the Audiology Unit because of suspicion of a hearing loss.
They are still under observation.
Forty-eight children were reported to be suffering from abnormalities of significance
and at the end of the year there were 45 children in the section of the register
dealing with handicapped children.
Incidence of Congenital Abnormalities Detectable at Birth
Babies, live and stillborn, with a detectable abnormality, are notified by the
doctor or midwife in charge of the confinement, with details of the abnormality, and
a return of these notifications, amounting to 60 for the year, was made to the Registrar
General.
The national figures may, in due course, 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. Stewart of the Department of Social Medicine,
Oxford University. Doctors from all over the country have participated and the
Council's medical officers continued to take part in the survey during 1969. A
complete medical and family history is obtained from the parents of children
who have died of a malignant disease, and a similar history is completed for a series
of carefully matched healthy children.
The main result of this survey so far has been to establish a possible relationship
between diagnostic X-ray procedures on the foetus and the development of leukaemia
in early childhood. This survey is now closed, and publication of the results is awaited.
Phenylketonuria
Following the receipt of circular 15/69 issued by the Department of Health and
Social Security in September, which was based on advice from the Medical Research
Council, the phenistix method of testing for phenylketonuria was replaced by the
more reliable Guthrie blood test method. Arrangements were made for the Neonatal
Screening Laboratory at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, W.C.I,
to undertake the tests for children born in the areas of the North East and North West
Metropolitan Regional Hospital Boards, and blood for testing was accepted by the
Laboratory from 1st October, 1969.
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