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
Battersea 1953
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Battersea Borough]
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13
Deaths of Illegitimate Infants.
The death rate amongst illegitimate children during 1953 was 70.71
Per 1,000 illegitimate live births, as compared with 41.23 in 1952,
42.73 in 1951, 40.40 in 1950 and 22.73 in 1949. The corresponding
death rate of legitimate children in 1953 was 15.49, the ratio of mortality
rate of illegitimate infants to that of legitimate being 456 to 100. The
corresponding figure for 1952 was 255 to 100.
Maternal Mortality.
During 1953 there was one death of a woman from "diseases or
accidents of child-birth," which is equivalent to a fatality rate of 0.55
Per 1,000 births (live and still). There were three such deaths during
1952.
The rate for England and Wales in 1953 was 0.76.
| Year | Population | Live Birth Rate | Death Rate | Maternal Death Rate | Infant Mortality Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | 85,380 | 19.0 | 17.7 | 1.22 | 49.8 |
| 1945 | 90,420 | 17.6 | 13.8 | 1.23 | 40.8 |
| 1946 | 108,610 | 23.4 | 13.5 | 1.54 | 42.4 |
| 1947 | 114,960 | 23.2 | 12.6 | 0.73 | 31.5 |
| 1948 | 116,500 | 19.3 | 11.3 | 1.00 | 31.6 |
| 1949 | 117,510 | 17.2 | 12.1 | 0.97 | 25.2 |
| 1950 | 117,700 | 16.1 | 11.2 | 1.02 | 26.9 |
| 1951 | 117,000 | 16.1 | 12.4 | 0.00 | 27.6 |
| 1952 | 116,400 | 15.2 | 11.9 | 1.66 | 17.6 |
| 1953 | 114,800 | 15.5 | 12.8 | 0.55 | 18.6 |
Infectious Diseases.
There was a small decrease in the number of notifications received
during 1953, there being 1,612 during the year as compared with 1,661
in 1952, a decrease of 49.
Notifications of measles dropped from 1,007 in 1952 to 762 in 1953,
decrease of 245, but notifications of whooping cough rose by 269,
there being 410 in 1953 as compared with 141 in 1952.
Notifications of scarlet fever, acute primary pneumonia, and
tuberculosis decreased slightly, but there was an increase in the number
of cases of dysentery, there being 24 cases during the year comparing
with 10 in 1952.
A case of acute encephalitis (infective) was notified, which case
Proved fatal.
Fourteen cases of polio-myelitis were notified, but in two of these
cases the diagnosis was not confirmed, leaving 12 confirmed cases
(10 paralytic and 2 non-paralytic) nine of these cases occurring in
children under 15 years of age.
A further 12 suspected cases were removed to hospital where it
was found that the patients were not suffering from this disease.