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
Chelsea 1909
Annual report for 1909 of the Medical Officer of Health
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11
From Table XVII. (Local Government Board Table V.) it will be
seen that out of a total of 150 deaths of infants, under 1 year of age, in
Chelsea in 1909, 56, or 37.3 per cent., occurred in the first 4 weeks of
life, as compared with 52, or 33.8 per cent. of the total, in 1908 ; and 35,
or 23.3 per cent. occurred in the first week of life, as against 35, or 21.1
per cent. of the total in 1908. The majority of these deaths in the first
month of life are due to premature birth of the infants and congenital
defects. For deaths under the month the rate of mortality, in 1909, is 40
per 1,000 births, as against 31 per 1,000 in 1908.
Between the ages of 1 month and 12 months, 94 deaths, 62.7 per
cent. of the total, were registered in 1909, as compared with 114, 68.7 per
cent. of the total in 1908; 17 of these deaths being due to diarrhœal
diseases, as compared with 36 in 1908. There were, besides, 3 deaths
from measles, 1 from scarlet fever, 3 from diphtheria, 9 from whooping
cough, 4 from tuberculous meningitis, 28 from bronchitis, 8 from
pneumonia, and 2 from overlaying amongst infants under one year of age.
Illegitimate Births.—The following Table shows, for each of the
years 1905—1909, the number of illegitimate births belonging to the
Borough, the number known to be alive at the end of each year, the
number known to be dead, and the number unaccounted for.
Table XII.—Borough of Chelsea.
| Year. | Illegitimate Births. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number. | Per cent. of total births. | Alive at end of year. | Dead at end of year. | Unaccounted for. | Deaths under 1 to 1,000 births | |
| 1905 | 88 | 5.5 | 19 | 10 | 59 | 114 |
| 1906 | 73 | 4.8 | 21 | 7 | 45 | 96 |
| 1907 | 76 | 5.2 | 28 | 9 | 39 | 118 |
| 1908 | 96 | 6.2 | 37 | 11 | 48 | 115 |
| 1909 | 74 | 5.3 | 44 | 13 | 17 | 176 |
The infantile mortality rates in the above table are evidently
minimum rates, owing to the considerable numbers each year unaccounted
for by change of residence, or other cause. Assuming that the
illegitimate babies unaccounted for died at the same rate as those
accounted for, then the average infantile mortality rate of the illegitimate
children born in the 5 years 1905—9, is 256 per 1,000, as compared with
119 per 1,000 for all infants, legitimate and illegitimate. About 50 per
cent. of the illegitimate births each year take place in the Chelsea
Workhouse.
Miss Tettenborn, the Borough Council's Lady Sanitary Inspector,
reports that of the 74 illegitimate infants only 10 were breast-fed. Some
of the births were registered incorrectly, the birth not taking place at the
address given.