The incidence of inguinal hernia in Newcastle children.

The intensive investigations of recent years into the incidence of congenital malformations have largely ignored inguinal hernia. This is surprising in view of its common occurrence and the generally accepted belief that it is congenital in origin even when not apparent at birth. This paper gives an estimate of the present incidence of inguinal hernia in children in Newcastle upon Tyne and considers certain factors which may influence the risk of its occurrence.