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
Kensington 1922
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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Reference to the table below indicates that a high infantile mortality rate in the Borough is
not unusual. The table shows only three periods in which the rate for Kensington was smaller than
that for England and Wales and a like number when the rate was below that of London.
INFANTILE MORTALITY RATES, 1896-1922
| Period. | England and Wales. | London. | Kensington. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1896-1900 | 156 | 162 | 176 |
| 1901-1905 | 138 | 139 | 144 |
| 1906-1910 | 117 | 114 | 120 |
| 1911 | 130 | 129 | 135 |
| 1912 | 95 | 91 | 92 |
| 1913 | 108 | 105 | 111 |
| 1914 | 105 | 104 | 95 |
| 1915 | 110 | 114 | 119 |
| 1916 | 91 | 89 | 85 |
| 1917 | 96 | 104 | 130 |
| 1918 | 97 | 108 | 97 |
| 1919 | 89 | 85 | 102 |
| 1920 | 80 | 75 | 81 |
| 1921 | 83 | 80 | 110 |
| 1922 | 77 | 74 | 82 |
THE NUMBER OF DEATHS OF KENSINGTON INFANTS OCCURRING IN EACH MONTH DURING 1922.
| January | 31 | |
| February | 20 | |
| March | 32 | |
| April | 37 | |
| May | 21 | |
| June | 20 | |
| July | 16 | |
| August | 6 | |
| September | 6 | |
| October | 23 | |
| November | 26 | |
| December | 19 | |
It is not uncommon to find the number of deaths in each of the months of August, September
and October to be higher than the number in any other month, owing of course to the large
number of children carried off by summer diarrhoea, but it is seen from the above table that in
the year under review the months of August and September actually had a lower number of
infant deaths than any other month of the year.
The table serves to demonstrate that the improvement in the infantile death rate in Kensington
was to a very large extent due to the Summer being a favourable one from the point of view of
infant diarrhoea; in fact, the number of infant deaths from enteritis for the whole year was only
24 as against 87 in the preceding year.