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
Lewisham 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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21
The national figures show a gradual alteration in the ratio from 1851
onwards, but more particularly in the last few years—see table 12.
Ratio of male to female (f = 1) in Lewisham and in England & Wales
Table 12
| Notifications | Deaths | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewisham | England and Wales | Lewisham | England and Wales | |
| 1851-60 | - | - | - | 0.9 |
| 61-70 | — | — | — | 0.9 |
| 71-80 | — | — | — | 1.0 |
| 81-90 | — | — | — | 1.1 |
| 91-00 | — | - | - | 1.2 |
| 1901-10 | — | — | — | 1.3 |
| 11-20 | — | - | — | 1.3 |
| 21-30 | — | 1.1 | — | 1.2 |
| 1931-34 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 |
| 35-38 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| 39-42 | — | 1.3 | - | 1.4 |
| 43-46 | — | 1.3 | — | 1.5 |
| 47-50 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| 51-54 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| * 55-57 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 2.7 |
| — not available *3 years | ||||
It is a little difficult to be certain of the cause of the sex differences.
The differing proportions of men to women in the population would not
be sufficient to account for them. If women develop tuberculosis—as they
apparently do—only slightly less often than men, why do the women
now die at a very much lesser rate than the men? This could be because
men cooperate less in treatment, or delay seeking treatment, or are in a
hurry to get back to work and so do not complete treatment, or they may
develop more illnesses of another nature, for example bronchitis, which
may aggravate their existing tuberculosis, or they may develop tuberculosis
later in life, when their natural expectation of life is less. On the
other hand it was the belief at one time that women, although naturally
rather tough, did themselves no good by either the slimming fashion
or the tendency to wear light and thin clothing, particularly on the chest.
Furthermore, women since the beginning of the last war have been
working at routine jobs in increasing numbers, and their responsibilities
to the home and so on cannot be so much smaller than the male responsibilities
than they were before the war. It therefore seems that in spite
of what would appear to be factors working in one direction the female
incidence of respiratory tuberculosis mortality has been going in the
opposite direction. It may be that statistically this difference is to some