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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38
In view of the fall of the birth-rate it is desirable that the whooping-cough death-rate of children
under five years of age should be stated. The following are the death-rates of children under five
years of age. The steady fall of the death-rate during these periods is conspicuous:—
| Period. | Death-rate per 1,000 children living at ages 0-5. | Period. | Death-rate per 1,000 children living at ages 0-5. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1851-60 | 6.56 | 1902 | 3.561 |
| 1861-70 | 6.53 | 1903 | 3.161 |
| 1871-80 | 6.02 | 1904 | 2.911 |
| 1881-90 | 5.34 | 1905 | 2.871 |
| 1891-1900 | 4.211 | 1906 | 2.331 |
| 1901 | 3.131 | 1907 | 3.371 |
The death-rate in each year since 1840 in relation to the mean of the period 1841-1907 is shown
in diagram XIV., while the deaths in each month since 1890 in relation to the mean monthly deaths
of the period 1891-1907 are shown in diagram VII., page 27.
It will be seen from the following table that in the decennium 1897-1906 the London whoopingcough
death-rate was exceeded by the death-rates of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, West Ham,
Salford and Newcastle-on-Tyne, and in the year 1907, was exceeded by the death-rates of Liverpool,
Manchester, West Ham, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Nottingham and Salford.
| Town. | 1897-1906. | 1907. | Town. | 1897-1906. | 1907. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Ham | 0.46 | 0.54 | |||
| Liverpool | 0.48 | 0.43 | Bradford | 0.24 | 0.28 |
| Manchester | 0.44 | 0.49 | Newcastle-on-Tyne | 0.41 | 0.48 |
| Birmingham | 0.45 | 0.34 | Hull | 0.35 | 0.37 |
| Leeds | 0.35 | 0.34 | Nottingham | 0.31 | 0.51 |
| Sheffield | 0.37 | 0.35 | Salford | 0.49 | 0.61 |
| Bristol | 0.35 | 0.10 | Leicester | 0.31 | 0.06 |
The following table shows that the London whooping-cough death-rate was, both in the
decennium 1897-1906 and the year 1907, higher than that of any of the undermentioned foreign
towns.
| Town. | 1897-1906. | 1907. | | Town. | 1897-1906. | 1907. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Petersburg | 0.21 | 0.22 | ||||
| Paris | 0.12 | 0.11 | Berlin | 0.26 | 0.20 | |
| Brussels | 0.12 | 0.06 | Vienna | 0.09 | 0.05 | |
| Amsterdam | 0.25 | 0.17 | Rome | 0.08 | 0.11 | |
| Copenhagen | 0.31 | 0.33 | New York | 0.12 | 0.09 | |
| Stockholm | 0.16 | 0.12 | ||||
The following table shows the whooping-cough deaths and death-rates for the year 1907 and
the death-rates for the period 1902-6 in the several metropolitan sanitary districts:—
1 Including deaths of Londoners in the Metropolitan Workhouses, Hospitals, and Lunatio Asylums outside
the County, but excluding those of non-Londoners in the London Fever Hospital, the Metropolitan Asylums
Hospitals and the Middlesex County Asylum, within the County of London.
2 See footnote (1), page 8.