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
Battersea 1913
Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1913
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The distribution of the disease in the three registration sub-districts of the Borough, together with the number of deaths among both hospital and home-treated patients, during 1913 is shown in the following table:—
| REGISTRATION SUB-DISTRICTS. | No. of cases notified. | Cases treated at home. | Cases removed to hospital. | No. of Deaths. | Case-mortality per cent. | Case-rate per 1,000 population. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At home. | At Hospital. | Total. | ||||||
| East Battersea | 110 | 3 | 107 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 7·2 | 1·5 |
| North-West Battersea | 85 | 2 | 83 | l | 9 | 10 | 11·7 | 1·7 |
| South-West Battersea | 55 | 12 | 43 | — | 2 | 2 | 3·6 | 1·1 |
In the above table it will be seen that the incidence of and
mortality from the disease has been greater relatively in NorthWest
Battersea.
Two hundred and thirty-three patients were removed to hospital,
or 93 per cent, of the total cases notified. In 1912 the
percentage of cases removed to hospital was 96, and in 1911
94 per cent. In the sub-districts the percentages of cases removed
to hospital were as follows:—North-West Battersea, 97.6; East
Battersea, 97.2; South-West Battersea, 78.2.
The following table gives the age distribution of the cases notified and of the fatal cases :—
| Age Periods—Years. | Boro | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under1 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 5-10 10-15- | 15-25 | 25 65 | 65— | |||
| No. of Cases | 5 | 9 | 19 | 21 | 28 | 116 | 85 | 18 | 4 | — | 250 |
| No. of Deaths | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 2 | — | — | — | 20 |
| Case-mortality per cent. | 20·0 | 33·8 | 5·2 | 33·3 | 3·5 | 4·3 | 5·7 | ·00 | ·00 | — | 8·0 |
The total number of houses invaded by diphtheria was 223.
In 17 houses (i.e., 7.6 per cent.) the drainage was found to be
defective.