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1905] 36
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
During the year the Infantile Mortality, that is to say the deaths of
infants under one year of age, was in the proportion of 123 to every 1,000
births, as compared with 144 during the preceding twenty years. It is also
the lowest mortality rate on record in Islington, and it compares very
satisfactorily not only with the infantile mortality rate of England and Wales,
where it was 128; of the 76 great tawns, where it was 140; of the 141
smaller towns, where it was 132, but it is also less than the mortality in the
boroughs which encircle Islington, where it was 132. It is also less than the
infantile morta lity rate of the County of London, which was 129 per 1,000 births.
In the sub-districts the rate reachcd from 101 per 1000 in Upper Holloway to
151 in Lower Holloway. It is difficult to understand why this difference should
have arisen in these two districts, but it may be partly accounted for by the
fact that in some parts of Lower Holloway the people are not so well off, and
do not live amidst such comfortable surroundings, as in the former district.
The cause of the low mortality cannot be ascribed to the lesser prevalence
of epidemic diarrhoea, which is often the main factor in the death-rate of
infants, as the returns show that the deaths from this disease, which numbered
149, exceeded the mean of ten years by only one.
The chief causes of infantile mortality are set out in Table XXV. which
shows that with the exception of the disease mentioned, Syphilis and
Developmental diseases alone showed an increase. On the other hand,
Marasmus and Atrophy decreased from an average of 165 to 107, Bronchitis
from 116 to 77, Pneumonia from no to 107, Premature Births from 176 to
163, and Convulsions from 59 to 38, while other diseases decreased to a lesser
extent.