[Report 1934] / School Medical Officer, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset (England). County Council.
Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1934] / School Medical Officer, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/50 (page 7)
    NUTRITION. It is very diilicult to arrive at accurate iui'orination as to the extent to which malnutrition is present in groups of children as there are no precise means of measurement, which means that some children would be included as mal¬ nourished by some observers but not by others. The best means of ascertainment in any particular case arc on clinical grounds and not solely on height and weight or any particular deduction from them. In order to obtain more uniformity the question was fully discussed at a Conference of the County School Medical Staff in January, 1934. As well as clinical methods a nutritional quotient additional help. weight in pounds. N.Q. = - height in inches. was adopted as an This quotient was worked out, for boys and girls separately, for the different heiglits using our own standard Somerset figures, so a basis of comparison was available for each age and each sex. Tlie quotient is worked out for all doubt¬ ful cases and recorded on the card, while a figure of lU per cent, below is taken as evidence of poor nutrition. The general experience after a year’s work is that while this measurement is of considerable assistance the final assessment must be based on clinical data. The percentage figures for nutrition below normal for the last 6 years were 8.2 (1929), 6.6 (193U), 7.2 (1931), 5.7 (1932), 9.1 (1933), and 9.4 (1934). These figures show some real increase in 1933 and 1934 over the average. When special attention is paid to one feature the percentages are likely to go up, and with the particular attention paid in 1934 I am glad to note that the figure is practically the same as for 1933. That there is more malnutrition is also suggested by the anaemia increase from 1.4 to 2.3 per cent. Dr. 1*. Henderson has presented a special report upon 4,000 children examined by him in detail for nutrition defects, his chief criteria being, presence of anaemia (clinically detected), diminution of vigour, etc., and the N.Q. men¬ tioned above. On these standards, 280 cliildren were considered of subnormal nutrition, i.e., 7.0 per cent. Of these children, in 260 the N.Q. was 10 per cent., or more below standard for its age and sex group and all but 27 showed clinical signs of malnutrition. Dr. PTenderson further investigated some of the factors wliicli were or might be responsible for the malnutrition. Degree of Employment—Breadwinner fully employed ... ... 135 ,, part time employed ... 36 On unemployment benefit ... ... 60 ,, Poor Law Belief ... ... ... 26 Pensioners ... ... ... ... 23 280