London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Paddington 1909
Report on the vital statistics and sanitary work for the year 1909
This page requires JavaScript
19
SEPTIC DISEASES.
TABLE 16. Childbed Morbidity and Mortality.
| District. | Year. | Puerperal Fever. | Mortality per 1,000. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puerperal Fever. | Accidents & Diseases of Parturition. | Total in Childbed. | |||||||
| Morbidity per 100 Births. | Fatality per 100 Cases. | Births. | Women, Aged 15-45 yrs. | Births. | Women, Aged 15-45 yrs. | Births. | Women, Aged 15-45 yrs. | ||
| Paddington | 1909 | 0.10 | 66.6 | 0.69 | 0.03 | 3.79 | 0.21 | 4.48 | 0.24 |
| 1904-08 | |||||||||
| London | 1909 | 0.24 | 62.7 | 1.53 | 0.10 | 1.47 | 0.10 | 3.00 | 0.20 |
| 1904-08 | |||||||||
| Kensington | 1909 | 0.21 | 54.2 | 1.25 | 0.05 | 3.76 | 0.16 | 5.01 | 0.21 |
| 1904-08 | |||||||||
| Westminster | 1909 | 0.19 | 40.0 | 0.89 | 0.03 | 3.57 | 0.15 | 4.46 | 0.18 |
| 1904-08 | |||||||||
| Marylebone | 1909 | 0.11 | 133.3 | 1.57 | 0.09 | 2.76 | 0.14 | 4.33 | 0.23 |
| 1904-08 | |||||||||
| Hampstead | 1909 | 0.38 | 60.0 | 2.34 | 0.07 | 2.34 | 0.07 | 4.68 | 0.14 |
| 1904-08 | |||||||||
| Willesden | 1909 | 0.19 | 25.0 | 0.49 | 0.03 | 2.47 | 0.21 | 2.96 | 0.24 |
| 1904-08 | |||||||||
Two of the three cases reported last year appeared to be due to the conveyance
of infection direct from patient to patient by one of the attendants. In the third case there
was a strong suspicion that the patient's mother was the source of infection. The mother,
who had leucorrhœa, slept with the patient before and after her confinement, and there was
a history of an attack of puerperal fever in a sister of the patient, whose bed the mother had
similarly shared.
Two deaths were certified as due to puerperal fever, which number gives a fatality equal
to 66.6 per cent., as compared with an average of 43.8 per cent. during the preceding
quinquennium (Table 16.) The fatality was higher in the Borough during the past year
than in any of the circumjacent districts, except Marylebone, where the deaths recorded
exceeded the cases notified.
Mortality in Childbed.—In addition to the deaths from puerperal fever, those from
accidents and diseases of parturition (11) have to be taken into account, and the rates are
calculated on the estimated numbers of women at fecund ages, viz., 15 to 45 years. Last
year's mortality (0.24) was 0.02 above the mean rate (0.22), and exceeded any of the rates
in the circumjacent districts (Table 16), except Willesden (0.24). Taking the registered