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
Walthamstow 1924
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Walthamstow]
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| Boys. | Girls. | Totals. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Convergent Squint | R | 8 | 9 | 17 |
| ,, | L | 12 | 20 | 32 |
| Divergent Squint | R | — | — | — |
| ,, | L | 1 | — | 1 |
| Occasional Squint | 3 | 6 | 9 | |
| Alternating Squint | 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| 26 | 39 | 65 |
The above table shows the nature and sex incidence of this
deformity. The left eye is more frequently involved than the right.
GROUP B.
Ninety-seven per cent, of the children submitted for treatment
had defective sight due to "error of refraction," a condition in
which the eye is slightly out of shape or has a difficulty in, or an
insufficient power of, focussing.
The optical conditions associated with defective sight are known
as (1) Hypermetropia; (2) Astigmatism; (3) Myopia.
Odd eyes is a condition in which one eye is Hypermetropic,
the other Myopic.
The following table shows the relative proportion of the various
forms of "error of refraction."
TABLE II.
| Totals. | per cent. | |
|---|---|---|
| Hypermetropia | 206 | 43.36 |
| Hyp. Astigmatism | 104 | 22.12 |
| Mixed Astigmatism | 19 | 4.10 |
| Myopia | 99 | 20.43 |
| Myopic Astigmatism | 28 | 5.89 |
| Odd Eyes | 19 | 4.10 |
| 475 | 100.00 |
Grouping the first two of these classes under the heading
"Hypermetropia" and the four latter under the heading "Myopia,"
we find that 65.5 per cent, are Hypermetropic and 34.5 per cent.
Mvones.
TABLE III.
| Boys | per cent. | Girls. | per cent. | Totals. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hypermetropia | 88 | 40.00 | 118 | 46.275 | 206 |
| Hyp. Astigmatism | 48 | 21.82 | 56 | 21.960 | 104 |
| Mixed Astigmatism | 7 | 3.18 | 12 | 4.706 | 19 |
| Myopia | 50 | 22.73 | 49 | 19.216 | 99 |
| Myopic Astigmatism | 12 | 5.45 | 16 | 6.274 | 28 |
| Odd Eyes | 15 | 6.82 | 4 | 1.569 | 19 |
| 220 | 100.00 | 255 | 100.000 | 475 |