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11
Causes of Death.—The causes of the deaths occurring
in the borough during 1922 will be found in Table II.
From this it will be seen that the principal causes were
cancer (204 deaths), heart disease (199 deaths), tuberculosis
(196 deaths), pneumonia (195 deaths), and
bronchitis (155 deaths).
The age distribution of these causes is worthy of
note. Whereas cancer, heart disease and bronchitis
are confined with a few exceptions to persons over
45 years of age, tuberculosis and pneumonia take a
heavy toll of the younger portion of the population.
About two-thirds of the deaths from tuberculosis and
pneumonia occurred in persons under 45 years of age.
The large number of deaths from cancer (204 this
year and 210 last year) is a matter of serious concern.
The deaths from this disease have shown a distinct
tendency to increase throughout the country during
recent years. The cancer death-rate in Fulham for
1922 was 1·27 per 1,000 population, in 1921 it was
1·31, whereas for 1900 and 1901 the rates were 0·82
and 0·85 respectively. The average rate for the five
years 1900-1904 was 0·80, while for the last five years,
1918-1922, the average rate was 1·21 per 1,000, an
increase of approximately 50 per cent.
Despite much research, no certain cure for this
disease has yet been found, and the best hope at the
present time lies in early diagnosis and early surgical
treatment. With this in view, the Public Health
Committee during 1922 issued, free of charge, leaflets
on the early signs and symptoms of cancer for the
information of the public. These were distributed
through the Health Visitors, the Infant Welfare Centres
and other institutions. Several doctors in general
practice in the borough were also good enough to keep
a supply of these leaflets at their surgeries.
With regard to tuberculosis, although the number
of deaths is still disturbingly high, the tendency is for
the death-rate to fall. Taking tuberculosis of the lungs