London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1913

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]

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8
Causes of Death. These are set out in detail in the Appendix. The following list shows
certain causes of death which arc important in themselves or from the fact that they contributed a
considerable share to the total mortality for the year:-
Cause of Death.
Number of
Deaths.
Principal Zymotic (or epidcmic) diseases 235
Epidcmic influenza 52
Puerperal fever 5
Phthisis 189
Other tuberculous diseases 51
Cancer 189
Bronchitis 219
Pneumonia 196
Heart diseases 284
Bright's disease 73
Diseases and accidents of parturition 5
Premature birth 55
Accidents 57
Suicide 17
Old age 85
All other causes 697
2.409
The diseases described in the above list as the "principal zymotic diseases," arc small-pox,
measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, enteric fever (including fever not otherwise
defined) diarrhoea and enteritis. One fourth of the total number of deaths were registered as due to
diseases of the heart or the organs of respiration. Tuberculosis, a preventable disease, caused
240 deaths, of which 189 were due to tuberculosis of the lungs. It should also be noted that
cancer was the cause of 189 deaths, as compared with 228 deaths from the same disease in the
previous year. The periods of life in which the various causes of death claim the majority of their
victims are indicated in Table III. Appendix, p. 73, and except in the case of deaths under the
age of one year will be considered in the section devoted to the prevalence of disease.
The number of deaths and the death-rates from each of the seven principal zymotic diseases in
Kensington together with the zymotic death-rates for London and Kensington will be found in
Tables VI. and VII. Appendix, p. 76, arranged in quinquennial periods since 1881.
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The deaths among infants under the age of one year numbered 371, the infantile mortality
rate being equivalent to 111 deaths per 1,000 births. The following Table shows a decline in the
infantile death-rate from 172 in the quinquennium 1896-1900 to 120 in the years 1906-1910, and a
decrease in the rate of 31 per cent. in North Kensington as compared with a decrease of 36 per
cent. in South Kensington.
Period.
Deaths under one year per 1,000 Births.
Kensington.
North.
South.
The Borough
London.
1896-1900 197 131 172 162
1901-1905 162 114 144 139
1906-1910 135 84 120 114
1911 148 103 135 129
1912 104 68 92 91
1913 131 61 111 —