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
London County Council 1907
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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The difference in the character of the populations of these two districts finds its natural reflection
in the mortality statistics, and the following table showing the " all causes " and phthisis
death.rate and infant mortality obtaining in the two districts for each of the last seven years serves to
illustrate this fact:—
Table II.
| Year. | All causes—Death.rate per 1,000 living. | Phthisis —Death rate per 1,000 living. | Enfant mortality—Deaths under 1 year of age per 1,000 births. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hampstead. | Shoreditch. | Hampstead. | Shoreditch. | Hampstead. | Shoreditch. | |
| 1901 | 11.9 | 22.3 | 0.91 | 2.23 | 104 | 197 |
| 1902 | 12.1 | 21.8 | 0.84 | 1.89 | 87 | 174 |
| 1903 | 11.2 | 20.4 | 0.73 | 2.42 | 88 | 171 |
| 1904 | 11.5 | 21.4 | 0.82 | 2.27 | 113 | 188 |
| 1905 | 10.5 | 20.7 | 0.82 | 2.04 | 94 | 167 |
| 1906 | 10.6 | 20.6 | 0.66 | 2.09 | 77 | 163 |
| 1907 | 10.2 | 21.5 | 0.69 | 2.19 | 69 | 150 |
| Average 1901.7 | 11.1 | 21.2 | 0.78 | 2.16 | 90 | 173 |
The short life tables which follow have been based on the mortality figures for the period
1901.5, and have been constructed on the modification of Dr. Farr's short method, introduced by
the late Dr. Hayward, and described by him in the " Journal of the Royal Statistical Society,"
vol. lxii., Part III. The chief difficulty in preparing tables of this kind relating to sanitary areas
in London has been the absence of reliable mortality figures at the required age.periods in which due
correction has been made for deaths of persons belonging to the district occurring in public institutions
outside the district, and the deaths of persons not belonging to the district occurring in
public institutions within the district.
Since the year 1896, however, by reason of the opportunities which the Council has afforded
me, I have been able to obtain from the records of the Registrar.General the number of deaths at
each age.period, fully corrected for deaths occurring in institutions in each of the sanitary areas
comprised in the administrative county.
The following Table III. shows the expectation of life at certain ages in Hampstead and
Shoreditch, the figures for London are also shown ; the latter, however, relate to the decennium
1891.1900, and are taken from the extended life table for London appended to the annual report
for the year 1901:—
Table III.
| Age. | Males. | Females. | Taking Hampstead Ex as 100, Shoreditch expectation of life is represented by— | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expectation of life, Ex. | Excess in Hampstead compared with Shoreditch. | Expectation of life, Ex | Excess in Hampstead compared with Shoreditch. | |||||||
| London. 1891.1900 | Hampstead . 19D1.1905 | Shoreditch. 1901.1905 | London. 1891.1900 | Ham p. stead. 1901.1905 | Shoreditch. 1901.1905 | |||||
| Males. | Females. | |||||||||
| At birth | 40.98 | 55.29 | 39.30 | 15.99 | 45.33 | 59.46 | 43.65 | 15.81 | 71 | 73 |
| At age 5 | 51.60 | 59.84 | 50.85 | 8.99 | 55.12 | 62.87 | 54.07 | 8.80 | 85 | 86 |
| „ 10 | 47.84 | 55.60 | 46.76 | 8.84 | 51.49 | 58.66 | 50.04 | 8.62 | 84 | 85 |
| ,, 15 | 43.40 | 51.07 | 42.38 | 8.69 | 47.10 | 53.96 | 45.68 | 8.28 | 83 | 85 |
| „ 20 | 39.13 | 46.80 | 38.07 | 8.73 | 42.77 | 49.39 | 41.33 | 8.06 | 81 | 84 |
| „ 25 | 34.96 | 42.42 | 33.91 | 8.51 | 38.46 | 44.83 | 37 .03 | 7.80 | 80 | 83 |
| „ 30 | 30.94 | 38.06 | 29.94 | 8.12 | 34.30 | 40.33 | 32.86 | 7.47 | 79 | 81 |
| „ 35 | 27.25 | 33.84 | 26.22 | 7.62 | 30.42 | 35.93 | 28.89 | 7.04 | 78 | 80 |
| ,, 40 | 23.87 | 29.93 | 22.89 | 7.04 | 26.80 | 31.66 | 25.23 | 6.43 | 76 | 80 |
| ,, 45 | 20.65 | 26.25 | 19.82 | 6.43 | 23.29 | 27.55 | 21.81 | 5.74 | 75 | 79 |
| „ 50 | 17.60 | 23.40 | 16.91 | 6.49 | 19.91 | 23.63 | 18.60 | 5.03 | 72 | 79 |
| „ 55 | 14.76 | 19.50 | 14.17 | 5.33 | 16.72 | 19.89 | 15.61 | 4.28 | 73 | 78 |
| „ 60 | 12.14 | 16.38 | 11.49 | 4.89 | 13.74 | 16.29 | 12.82 | 3.47 | 70 | 79 |
| „ 65 | 9.76 | 13.57 | 9.08 | 4.49 | 1101 | 12.94 | 10.29 | 2.65 | 67 | 80 |
| „ 70 | 7.66 | 11.38 | 7.10 | 4.28 | 8.59 | 9.89 | 8.09 | 1.80 | 62 | 82 |
| ,, 75 | 5.91 | 9.26 | 5.53 | 3.73 | 6.57 | 7.31 | 6.24 | 1.07 | 60 | 85 |
The effect of the conditions which adversely affect longevity are strikingly exemplified in the
foregoing table. It will be seen that the expectation of life " at birth in Shoreditch is nearly 16 years
less than in Hampstead both among males and females, and at each age shown in the table the figures
18560 c