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
Merton and Morden 1948
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Merton & Morden]
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rates enjoyed by Merton and Morden. If this table is compared
with that on page 13, shewing the stillbirth rates, it will give
further emphasis to this fact, for it is certain that the factors
adversely affecting the chances of the mother's survival during
childbirth are the same factors that are responsible for stillbirths.
Both are a measure of obstetric efficiency and, of the two, the
stillbirth rate is the more sensitive. Further, if we .examine the
neo-natal infant mortality rate, i.e. those who failed to survive
the first month of life and who have probably only just escaped
being stillbirths—and indeed, there are many who could not
survive the first few hours—we find that all these rates are
significantly better than the comparable rates for England and
Wales, which is the final average of all the areas in the country.
TABLE V.
| Year | Death rate per thousand total births. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sepsis | Other causes | Total | ||||
| Merton and Morden | England and Wales | Merton and Morden | England and Wales | Merton and Morden | England and Wales | |
| 1928 | _ | 1.58 | - | 2.17 | - | 3.75 |
| 1929 | 2.2 | 1.51 | - | 2.13 | 2.2 | 3.64 |
| 1930 | — | 1.54 | 2.2 | 2.06 | 2.2 | 3.60 |
| 1931 | 1.6 | 1.41 | 3.1 | 2.02 | 4.7 | 3.43 |
| 1932 | 5.1 | 1.33 | 2.5 | 2.12 | 7.6 | 3.46 |
| 1933 | 2.9 | 1.49 | 1.4 | 2.23 | 4.3 | 3.72 |
| 1934 | 2.5 | 1.59 | 2.5 | 2.21 | 5.0 | 3.80 |
| 1935 | — | 1.34 | 2.6 | 2'06 | 2.6 | 3.41 |
| 1936 | 2.4 | 1.18 | — | 2.01 | 2.4 | 3.19 |
| 1937 | 1.2 | 0.79 | 1.2 | 2.01 | 2.4 | 2.79 |
| 1938 | 0.98 | 0.70 | 1.96 | 1.99 | 2.94 | 2.70 |
| 1939 | — | 0.63 | 3.93 | 1.94 | 3.93 | 2.57 |
| 1940 | 1.04 | 0.55 | — | 1.69 | 1.04 | 2.24 |
| 1941 | — | 0.48 | 2.3 | 1.78 | 2.3 | 2.26 |
| 1942 | 0.93 | 0.42 | 1.87 | 1.60 | 2.80 | 2.02 |
| 1943 | 0.85 | 0 39 | — | 1.45 | 0.85 | 1.84 |
| 1944 | — | 0.28 | 0.84 | 1.24 | 0.84 | 1.52 |
| 1945 | — | 0.24 | 0.97 | 1.23 | 0.97 | 1.47 |
| 1946 | — | 0.31 | — | 1.12 | — | 1.43 |
| 1947 | 0.73 | 0.26 | — | 0.92 | 0.73 | 1.18 |
| 1948 | — | 0.24 | — | 0.78 | — | 1.02 |
INFANT MORTALITY.
Once more I have set out the causes of infant deaths in
detail to demonstrate the fact that it is in improved obstetric
care now that any further considerable reduction of this infant
20