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who had been suffering from the disease before they moved there. These
are the people in respect of whom notification of transfer had been received
from the authority in whose area they previously lived. To this number
must be added the 36 who were known to have been suffering from the
disease before transfer, but about whom no notice was received. In
1949, then, notifications were received of 130 persons who moved into the
district while already suffering from the disease. The actual number of
such persons is probably greater than this, because at the time of writing
the information about a number of those notified during the year had
not been received.
(c) Age and Sex Distribution. Because it is mostly the younger
parents with small children who move into the houses of a developing
district, and because so much of this district was developed only shortly
before the war, it is probable that the age and even sex distribution of
the population of this district is not the same as that of the country as a
whole. The incidence of new cases of tuberculosis falls more heavily
on certain sections of the population so that in any population in which
these particular groups were more especially represented, it would be
expected that the numbers of notifications would be greater than those in
a population of the same size, but of normal constitution. This factor
might be operating in this district, but if at all, it is not possible to determine
to what extent, as the age distribution of the local population is
not known.
It would seem, then, that an important factor leading to the relatively
large numbers of notifications of tuberculosis in this district may
be the result of the influx of new populations to the area, some of it
additional to that here, some of it replacing that previously here. Those
additional should, of course, add to the numbers of those on the register.
Those which are replacements ought to be off-set by the removal of the
names of those who had left the district. If, then, any substantial number
of this increase in notifications is the result of the movement of the
people into the district (except for the newcomers on the London County
Council Estate) then, although the numbers of notifications increased,
this should be offset by the numbers of those whose names were removed
from the register because they had left the district. From 1935 onwards
those figures were 101, 126, 54, 76, 111, 93, 91, 83, 52, 134, 96, 112, 84,
117 and 129. These figures suggest a larger movement after the war
than before it. On the other hand, the figures are not so very different
from those of the numbers of patients who moved into the district while
suffering from tuberculosis. It would seem, then, that the increased
number of notifications received must indicate a definite increase in
prevalence, or if not an increase in prevalence, an increase in the number
of cases recognised and notified.