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
London County Council 1927
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
20
evidence of a pause in the remarkable increase shown to have occurred among those
born between 1805 and 1867, and some indication of an approaching decline.
An erroneous idea of the incidence of cancer in the population may easily be
derived from considering death-rates at ages, for while the death-rate at 75-85
years of age may be as much as 10 or 12 per thousand living, the population surviving
to this age is relatively quite small. Actually more than one-half the total
cancer deaths occur at working ages, i.e., before 65 years of age. In order to make
the facts shown by the figures in the above table clearer, then, the rates have been
applied to a life-table population, that is to say, a hypothetical population in which
the number of persons aged, say, between 75 and 85, in relation to those of, say,
35-45, is so adjusted as to eliminate the effects on the age-constitution of the population
of migration and changes in birth-rate. The results are shown in the following
table, giving in ten-year age-groups the deaths which would have occurred in a
life-table population of one million persons over 35 years of age, and also the percentage
of such deaths occurring at each age-period.
Calculated deaths from cancer in London in a standard (life-table) population among persons born in—
| Age period. | 1805-17. | 1815-27. | 1825-37. | 1835-47. | 1845-57. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Per cent. | No. | Per cent. | No. | Per cent. | No. | Per cent. | No. | Per cent. | |
| Males— | ||||||||||
| 35— | 69 | 4.9 | 92 | 4.6 | 102 | 3.9 | 128 | 3.9 | 170 | 4.6 |
| 45— | 204 | 14.8 | 254 | 12.8 | 335 | 12.7 | 461 | 14.2 | 481 | 13.0 |
| 55— | 396 | 28.2 | 543 | 27.4 | 767 | 29.0 | 925 | 28.4 | 1,123 | 30.3 |
| 65— | 490 | 34.9 | 718 | 36.2 | 961 | 36.3 | 1,174 | 36.0 | 1,293 | 34.9 |
| 75— | 244 | 17.4 | 377 | 19.0 | 480 | 18.1 | 571 | 17.5 | 640 | 17.2 |
| Total | 1,403 | 100.0 | 1,984 | 100.0 | 2,645 | 100.0 | 3,259 | 100.0 | 3,707 | 100.0 |
| Females— | ||||||||||
| 35— | 283 | 11.3 | 278 | 9.9 | 334 | 10.3 | 360 | 10.4 | 354 | 10.2 |
| 45— | 550 | 22.1 | 570 | 20.3 | 657 | 20.3 | 718 | 20.8 | 721 | 20.8 |
| 55— | 729 | 29.2 | 797 | 28.5 | 918 | 28.4 | 997 | 28.8 | 984 | 28.5 |
| 65— | 620 | 24.9 | 762 | 27.2 | 893 | 27.7 | 898 | 26.0 | 928 | 26.8 |
| 75— | 311 | 12.5 | 395 | 14.1 | 428 | 13.3 | 484 | 14.0 | 472 | 13.7 |
| Total | 2,493 | 1000 | 2,802 | 1000 | 3,230 | 1000 | 3,457 | 1000 | 3,459 | 1000 |
but again the percentages at age-periods are very similar. The age-distribution of deaths among females differs considerably from that of males ; and if the percentages given in the table are differenced the following figures are obtained :—
| Age period. | Percentage of deaths in successive age-periods. Female excess ( + ) or deficiency (—) among persons born in | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1805-17. | 1815-27. | 1825-37. | 1835-47. | 1845-57. | |
| 35— | +6.4 | +5.3 | +6.4 | +6.5 | +5.6 |
| 45_ | +7.5 | +7.5 | +7.6 | +6.6 | —7.8 |
| 55— | +1.0 | +1.1 | — 0.6 | +0.4 | —1.8 |
| 65— | —10.0 | —9.0 | — 8.6 | —10.0 | —8.1 |
| 75— | —4.9 | —4.9 | — 4.8 | —3.5 | —3.5 |
From such methods of statistical analysis as have been applied to the figures,
it appears that the relative excess of mortality at the earlier ages among women
can be definitely assigned to the cancers of Group II., the reproductive system.