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4
MEROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF CHELSEA
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
King's Road,
CHELSEA, S.W.10.
July, 1956.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Matropolitan Borough of Chelsea.
Your Worship, My Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my annual report for the year ending
31st December, 1955.
Vital Statistics. The population, as estimated by the RegistrarGeneral
is 51,450, a decrease of 610 as compared with the return for 1954
(52,060). Deaths totalled 825, an increase of 91 wer those recorded in
1954 (734), and the death rate was 16.0, or 1.9 more than in the preceding
year (14.1). Once again it is of interest to note that almost seventy-five
per cent. of all deaths occurred in persons aged 65 years or ever. The
average for the years 1950-1955 was slightly over seventy-one per cent. The
Registrar-General has found it necessary to establish "Area Comparability
Factors" to provide for adjustments of sex and age components of any one area
as compared with England and Wales as a whole, and the results of the
application of these factors to Births and Deaths rates will be found on Page
6. Births aggregated 745, and the rate was 14.5, 0.6 below the return for
1954. No deaths were found to be attributable to accidents or diseases
associated with pregnancy or childbirth, In 1954 there were two, and in
1953, three. Infantile Mortality returns show a further rise in the number
of deaths occurring amongst children under one year of age, the total being
25. In 1954 there were 21. The particular rate must, however, be
contemplated with the actual number of births and deaths registered, when it
will be clear that a greater proportionate reduction in the number of deaths
is resulting when comparing them with the decline in births, as will be noted
from the fallowing brief summary:-
Year
No. of births
registered
No. of deaths
under 1 year.
of age
Percentage failing
to attain to 1 year
of age
1900 2,245 333 14.8
1910 1,376 141 10.2
1955 745 25 3.3
Infectious Diseases. Notifications received during the year totalled
1,218, as compared with 549 in the preceding year. This remarkable increase
is almost entirely due to the incidence of M&aales - 736 cases were reported,
representing approximately 60 per cent, of all notifications. In 1954 there
were only 104 notifications of Maasles, so the current return represents an
increase of 122 per cent. For the first time since 1949, Diphtheria appeared
in the Infectious Diseases table, two cases being notified. A comprehensive
report concerning this will be found in the section devoted to "Epidemiology"