[Report of the School Medical Officer for Barking.

  • Barking (London, England). Urban District Council.
Date:
[1927?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the School Medical Officer for Barking. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    67/90 (page 35)
    35 3.—One-sixth of the industrial invalidity of the country arises from rheumatic infections. The annual loss to the Approved Societies is £2,000,000 and the work lost to the members equivalent to three million weeks per year. Among the principal causes of rheumatism may be mentioned enlarged and septic tonsils in some 50 per cent. of cases, while dental sepsis, damp houses and damp clothing are correlated in the causation of the disease in a large proportion of cases. Rheumatism is common in all low lying and damp localities, an increased incidence of the disease in London having been shown to follow the course of the River Thames, and explaining probably some of the reasons for the prevalence of rheumatic affections in this neighbourhood. Through the kindness of Dr. Adshead, I am able to produce the following statistics relative to the prevalence of rheumatism in 784 school children examined during the last two months:— Of 245 entrants, 15.1 per cent. were rheumatic. early symptoms being present in 9.3 per cent. and heart complications in 5.7 per cent. Among 259 intermediates, 10.4 per cent. showed early symptoms, while heart complications had increased to 7.7 per cent. Among 280 leavers early cases had fallen to 5.7 per cent., while those with the more severe type of heart affection had then risen to 13.2 per cent. Among a school population therefore of 784, the percentage of those suffering from rheumatism may be said to be 17.4, while those leaving school with permanently damaged hearts would be 9.05 per cent., a state of matters in great measure preventable. I append the following suggested lines of prevention and treatment of this disease. 1.—In order to gain a better supervision of the growing child, it is necessary that the artificial barrier which now exists between the School Medical Service and Infant Welfare Departments be broken down, the same nurse-visitor becoming responsible for the care of all children from birth to fourteen years. Damage to health is most frequently done in those years immediately preceding the child's entry to school, as, for example, in the large number of