View report page

34
REMARKS ON VARIOUS DEATH CAUSES.
Recognising the importance of ensuring as far as possible the
uniformity and comparability of statistics in relation to diseases and
causes of death, the Registrar-General has, from 1st January, 1950,
implemented the Nomenclature Regulations, 1948, as suggested by
the World Health Organisation. Although these regulations are
not binding on Medical Officers of Health, it is essential that the
International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and
Causes of Death, 1948, should be adopted in order that local
statistics can be compared with national figures and national
with international.
As a result of the adoption of the new classification, it may not
be possible accurately to compare previous figures with those of the
current year.
Classification of Deaths.— It should be borne in mind that
the statistical data compiled locally relating to cause of death may
not entirely agree with the figures furnished to Local Authorities by
the Registrar-General. Classification of the cause of death is taken
from one or more causes as stated on the medical certificate in
accordance with the rules generally adopted throughout England
and Wales.
The Registrar-General is able, in cases where it is deemed
desirable, to obtain fuller information from the certifying
practitioner. This enables his department to modify the original
classification— hence the possibilities of discrepancies in some
cases between the figures prepared locally and those referred by
the Registrar-General.
Common Infectious Diseases.— The class known as Common
Infectious Diseases, comprising Measles, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria,
Whooping Cough and Diarrhoea, is credited with a total of 3 deaths,
equalling a Death Rate of 0.03 per thousand of the population.
This same class in 1901 was responsible for 203 deaths with a
rate of 2.1 per thousand, indicating a mortality some seventy times
greater than that of the current year.
It is reasonable to suppose that the introduction of Public
Health legislation since that time, especially the Maternity and
Child Welfare Act, 1918, has led to much of the reduction in mortality
from common infectious diseases.