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
Greenwich 1970
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough]
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55
Although death rates in the country for women who die from
lung cancer continue to increase, there are still five times as many
men as women who die from this cause. In Greenwich this pattern
is repeated, the rate for females dying from this cause rising
from 0.17 to 0.33 during 1970 although that for males, viz. 1.21,
revealed a small improvement from the 1.25 returned for the
previous year.
The accompanying table giving deaths from lung cancer in the
Borough since 1965 is included in order that current trends in this
disease may be studied :—
DEATHS FROM CANCER OF LUNG
(including Bronchogenic Carcinoma)
| Year | AGE GROUPS | Totals | Grand Total | Rate per 1,000 Pop. | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 and under 35 yrs. | 35 and under 45 yrs. | 45 and under 55 yrs. | 55 and under 65 yrs. | 65 and under 75 yrs. | 75 yrs. and upwards | |||||||||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |||
| 1965 | _ | _ | 2 | 3 | 16 | 7 | 47 | 10 | 59 | 9 | 23 | 8 | 147 | 37 | 184 | 0.79 |
| 1966 | _ | _ | 6 | 3 | 17 | 6 | 44 | 5 | 46 | 4 | 19 | 6 | 132 | 24 | 156 | 0.68 |
| 1967 | 1 | _ | 2 | 3 | 15 | 4 | 39 | 16 | 55 | 21 | 27 | 7 | 139 | 51 | 190 | 0.82 |
| 1968 | _ | — | 1 | 1 | 21 | 2 | 35 | 7 | 65 | 6 | 18 | 5 | 140 | 21 | 161 | 0.70 |
| 1969 | _ | _ | 1 | _ | 17 | 3 | 47 | 3 | 51 | 8 | 23 | 5 | 139 | 19 | 158 | 0.70 |
| — | — | 2 | 15 | 13 | 55 | 8 | 23 | 12 | 133 | 39 | 172 | 0.76 | ||||
Respiratory Deaths
Pneumonia—There were two children under one year of age
and 247 persons over 65 years in a total of 275 deaths from pneumonia
registered during 1970. The total, which consisted of 117
males and 158 females, showed an increase of 51 over that of the
previous year.
Compared with rates of 0.87 and 0.99 for England and Wales
and Greater London respectively, the Borough returned a rate of
1.22 which was 0.24 greater than that for 1969.
Bronchitis and Emphysema—During the current year Greenwich
had a total of 199 bronchitis deaths, 139 males and 60 females,
an increase of 18 over those recorded for the previous year.
The rate computed for the Borough is 0.88 compared with that
of 0.59 for England and Wales and 0.63 for Greater London.
Influenza—Seven influenza deaths occurred during the year
under review, all over the age of 45 years, giving a rate of 0.03
for the Borough. The national rate was 0.15 and that for Greater
London 0.08.
There were 15 deaths recorded in the Borough during 1969.