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
Harrow 1946
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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74
pital); 2 were old cases, who returned later in 1946 for recurrence of
symptoms; these and 6 others were still under treatment at the end of
the year.
Apart from the above 41, 4 children (2 from Harrow), seen for diagnosis
in 1945, commenced treatment in 1946, and were all discharged as
satisfactory during the year.
Thus the total number of children under treatment during 1946 was
74+41+4=119, the old cases gradually diminishing and the new being
added throughout the year.
Reasons for Referral.
This year disorders of habit preponderated, other symptoms following in the main the pattern of previous years as regards numbers.
| (1) | Total. | ||
| Aggressiveness : difficult to manage, disobedient, | |||
| untruthful | 38 | 57 | |
| Theft, petty pilfering and truancy | 13 | ||
| Tantrums | 3 | ||
| Sex difficulties | 3 | ||
| (2) | |||
| Enuresis | 34 | 62 | |
| Faecal incontinence | 4 | ||
| Thumb-sucking | 1 | ||
| Sleep disorder (night terrors, sleep-walking, insomnia) | 7 | ||
| Masturbation | 4 | ||
| Tics | 10 | ||
| Nail-biting | 1 | ||
| Food habits | 1 | ||
| Sensitiveness, nervousness, apathy, obstinacy, solitariness, fears, anxiety, timidity | 32 | ||
| Asthma, blackouts, pains | 8 | ||
| All degrees | 41 | ||
| 200 | |||
Of the 41 cases referred for backwardness, 16 proved to be mentally
defective (I.Q. between 50 and 70), 11 were primarily dull and backward,
9 were low average or average, and 5 were children of good intelligence
suffering from emotional disturbance (2 of these had a specific reading
disability).
In the other cases, the I.Q. was not especially relevant. The number
of intelligence tests is substantially the same as the number of new cases
seen (i.e. 200 in 1946) for each child when first seen is tested as part of the
diagnosis.
In addition, 6 children were re-tested in 1946, for whom a reassessment
had been considered necessary.