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
Islington 1902
Forty-seventh annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Borough of Islington
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1902]
80
The death rate was 0.95 per 1,000 of the population, that is to say, that in
every 20,000 of the population, men, women and children, nineteen persons
died.
The mortality is even more startling than this, for as life advances it is found that it increases rapidly, as the following figures prove.
| Ages. | Deaths. | Death Rates. | Ages. | Deaths. | Death Rates. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-5 | 3 | 0.08 | 55-65 | 103 | 4.96 |
| 5-15 | 3 | 0.05 | 65-75 | 70 | 6.64 |
| 15-25 | 5 | 0.07 | 75-85 | 27 | 7.04 |
| 25-35 | 8 | 0.13 | 85-95 | 3 | |
| 35-45 | 29 | 0.65 | 326 | 0.95 | |
| 45-55 | 75 | 2.35 |
Here it is seen that the death-rate up to 35 years of age is very small; at
the early ages of life almost insignificant; but that when that age has been
passed it becomes much more serious, for we find that in every ten thousand of
the population, aged from 35-45, more than 6 people die; that between 45 and
55 years of age the ratio is 24; that between 55 and 65 it is 50 ; that between
65 and 75 it is 66, and that among persons over 75 years it is 70.
In the last Annual Report the steady increase in the deaths from this
disease in England was commented on, and it was pointed out that the malignant
disease was more fatal among women than men, which was due to the
unequal tendency of the disease to attack the female mammary glands. In
a recent work on the " Prevention of Disease,"* it is pointed out that the real
cause of carcinoma is unknown, but that there is a consolation in the fact
that we have learned certain of its predisposing causes, which are continually
met with, meaning the mechanical and chemical injuries connected with
certain occupations. The best known are the Tar Cancer and Chimney
Sweepers' Cancer among workers at the tar and paraffin industries and
chimney sweepers. The ætiological significance of irritation leading to chronic
inflammation upon the occurrence of the disease is dwelt on. The author
then goes on to say: “ Bottini mentions 100 cases of Cancer of the tongue,
which he has showed (including three cases in women) were all caused by
smoking and chewing of tobacco. H. Zinker found gall stones in 84.5 percent.
of cases of primary carcinoma of the gall bladder, and these stones are
known to have given rise to irritation and inflammation."
The statistics of Cancer of the Breast by Winiwarter and Oldekop show
that in 125 out of 934 cases some injury had occurred, that is in 13.4 per cent.
* "The Prevention of Disease." Published by Constable, Westminster, 1902.