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
Paddington 1910
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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6 sickness.
already mentioned. The changes were, however, much less marked than those between the
rates for last and the preceding years. Thus, in the case of diphtheria last year's rate was
0.76, while that for the preceding year was 1.14, and the rates for scarlet fever in the two
years were 1.69 and 4.15 respectively.
TABLE
Corrected for duplicate certificates only.
| Smallpox. | Diphtheria. | Membranous Croup. | Erysipelas | Fevers, | Totals. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet. | Enteric. (Typhoid) | Continued. | Puerperal | ||||||
| Cases certified— | |||||||||
| — | - | — | |||||||
| — | — | ||||||||
| Morbidity Rates* | |||||||||
| — | - | — | |||||||
| * Per 1,000 persons of all ages, except those from puerperal fever (per 1,000 females). | |||||||||
The sex-age distribution of the cases, as certified, is given in Table 5, as well as the
morbidity rates (all ages) for each sex. With the exception of scarlet fever, more cases were
reported among females than males, as regards numbers, and in the case of erysipelas
relatively as regards rates. From a comparison of the mean rates the increase in prevalence
of enteric fever last year was greater among females than males. The distribution of cases
certified according to residences of the patients (Table 6) shows, with few exceptions,
the same satisfactory reduction in prevalence of disease as did the figures in Table 4. All
the morbidity rates for last year were notably below their respective mean rates.
For the purposes of comparing the prevalence of disease in the Borough, with that in the
Metropolis and the districts circumjacent to the Borough, the numbers of cases mentioned
in the Quarterly Reports of the Registrar-General have been used (Table 7), and hence the small
differences between the local rates in that table and those in Table 4. Westminster was the
only District in which smallpox was reported during the year (1 case). The highest rate
from diphtheria was that of Marylebone (1.01) and the lowest, that of Hampstead (0.53),
that of Paddington (0.78) being the next lowest. Willesden had the highest rate from
scarlet fever (1.89) and Kensington, the lowest (1.43), while Willesden had the lowest rate
from enteric fever (0.14), and Westminster the highest (0.29). Of the rates due to puerperal
fever that of Willesden (0.07) was the highest, and that of Hampstead (0.02) the lowest, but
all the rates were very near each other.
The diagram of the weekly morbidity rates from scarlet fever and diphtheria faces
page 8. The weekly local rates are compared with those for the Metropolis, the rates
recorded last year, and those recorded during the ten years 1900-09 being given in each
case.