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
Kensington 1909
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health 1909
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It will be seen that the principal zymotic diseases were responsible for a substantial number of the total deaths and the zymotic death-rates shown in the following table may be accepted, with certain reservations, as a test of the sanitary state of the Borough.
| Period. | Deaths from Principal Zymotic Diseases per 1,000 persons living. | |
|---|---|---|
| Kensington. | London. | |
| 1896-1900 | 1.93 | 2.64 |
| 1901-1905 | 1.51 | 2.04 |
| 1906 | 1.50 | 1.90 |
| 1907 | 1.00 | 1.40 |
| 1908 | 0.90 | 1.40 |
| 1909 | 1.01 | 1.31 |
A steady and well marked decline in the zymotic death-rate has continued during the past 14
years and throughout this period the rate for Kensington has been considerably lower than the rate
for London as a whole. The advantages enjoyed by Kensington in this respect are chiefly due to
lower rates of mortality from diphtheria, diarrhoea and whooping cough. In both areas the greater
part of the fall in the zymotic death rate since 1896 has been the outcome of a diminution in the
death-rates from scarlet fever, diphtheria and enteric fever. The falling death-rate from enteric
fever follows the diminished prevalence of the disease. The prevalence of scarlet-fever has not been
materially reduced, but the type of the disease has of late years been extremely mild. The decline
in the mortality from diphtheria results directly from the treatment of diphtheria patients by antitoxin.
This treatment was first practised in the hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board in
1895, and has now become universal.
The death rates from measles and whooping cough show some tendency to decrease, but the
mortality from diarrhoea in the quinquennium 1901-1905 was the highest recorded for any quinquennial
period since 1880.
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The deaths among infants under the age of one year numbered 379, the infantile mortality
rate being 112 per 1,000 births. By expressing the number of deaths in proportion to the number
of births, the influence of age distribution is eliminated and a reliable standard is afforded for
measuring the comparative mortality in different districts. The following table shows a decline in
the infantile death-rate from 172 in the quinquennium 1896-1900 to 112 in the present year.
Deaths under one year per 1,000 Births.
Period.
Kensington. London.
1896-1900 172 163
1901-1905 144 140
1906 132 133
1907 126 117
1908 122 113
1909 112 108