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
Fulham 1919
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1919
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TABLE IX.
| Diseases. | Deaths per 1000 Births. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1919. | Average of 5 years 1914-18. | |
| Infectious Diseases | 2.0 | 10.3 |
| Tuberculous „ | 1.0 | 3.5 |
| Respiratory „ | 14.7 | 21.9 |
| Diarrhoeal ,, | 13.7 | 21.7 |
| Developmental ,, | 40.0 | 33.0 |
| Other „ | 11.6 | 15.6 |
| 83 | 106 | |
It will be noticed that there was a notable decline
in all the groups except that of developmental diseases,
which was 20 per cent. above the quinquennial average.
Of the deaths in this group 75 per cent. occurred in
the first month of life or what is known as the neonatal
period, and, as has been previously pointed
out, the reduction in infant mortality in recent
years has been almost entirely confined to children
over a month old, and there has been little or no
reduction in the mortality of infants under four
weeks old, whose deaths are mainly due to antenatal
causes which have as yet been but little affected
by existing preventive methods.
Deaths of Illegitimate Infants.—Of the 250 infants
who died before attaining the age of one year, 38 were
illegitimate, the mortality among them being at the
rate of 195 deaths per 1,000 births against 76 per
1,000 among children born in wedlock.