London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Lewisham 1954
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
56
Tuberculosis
The age distribution of the new cases of tuberculosis notified by
formal notifications and the deaths from tuberculosis during the year
are shown in the following table:—
Table 42
| Age periods | New cases notified | Deaths | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Respiratory | Non-Respiratory | Totals | Respiratory | Non-Respiratory | Totals | |||||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| 0- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1- | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2- | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| 5- | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10- | 2 | 5 | - | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||||||
| 15- | 11 | 12 | - | - | 11 | 12 | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 |
| 20- | 8 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 25 | ||||||
| 25- | 23 | 28 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 32 | 2 | 3 | - | - | 2 | 3 |
| 35- | 14 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 13 | ||||||
| 45- | 21 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 3 | - | - | 12 | 3 |
| 55- | 18 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 8 | ||||||
| 65- | 11 | 4 | - | 1 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 1 | - | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| 75 + | 5 | 2 | - | - | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 3 | 1 |
| 118 | 110 | 13 | 15 | 131 | 125 | 25 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 12 | |
On the log scale two matters stand out: (1) the slow but relatively steady increase (apart from
1941) in the rate between 1934 and 1944, and (2) the rapid but consistent (apart from 1952)
decrease in the rate from 1944 to 1954. It may be that abnormal conditions accounted for the
inconsistent peak of 1941 and for the trough of 1952, and so perhaps the rate will continue