View report page

This loss of potential lives remains a problem and until more is known of the
causes little improvement can be expected.
DEATHS The deaths of residents of the Borough during 1955 were 1,114 (591
male, 523 female). This represents a death rate for the Borough of 10.6 per 1,000
population. The deaths in any area are influenced by the sex and age distribution
of the population, and to permit of a true comparison, the Registrar-General
calculates for each local sanitary authority area what is called an area
comparability factor. When this is applied to the above Borough rate, the result
is 10.9 as compared with a death rate of 11.7 per 1,000 population for England and
Wales.
The Registrar-General has classified the deaths registered during the year, and
the details are given in Table II. In Table IV, the deaths occurring during the
year have been classified on local information. To help in classifying causes of
death, the Registrar-General may obtain additional information which is not available
to the Medical Officer of Health For these two reasons, discrepancies may be
noticed on comparing Tables II and IV. The cause of death was certified by the
Coroner in 190 cases.

The chief causes of death in males were heart and circulatory diseases (188),
cancer (106), cerebral haemorrhage (83), and bronchitis and pneumonia (66). In
females, the chief causes of death were heart and circulatory disease (158), cancer
(108), cerebral haemorrhage (83), and bronchitis and pneumonia (40).
The Secretary of the Road Safety Committee informs me that during 1955 there
were 704 road accidents which resulted in 19 deaths, serious injury to 148 persons
and slight injury to 720 persons.

-7-