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
Greenwich 1954
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough]
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21
During the year the pattern of death registrations continued
normally, namely that the first quarter produced the most (29.6%)
and the third quarter the least (19.7%).
It will be observed from the following table that during 1954
the deaths occurring at 65 years and upwards accounted for 64.6%
of the total compared with a figure of 22.8% for 1901.
Deaths in the age group 0-5 years show an even more striking comparison : in 1901 the deaths in this group amounted to 37.4% whilst the figure for the current year is 4.5%.
| Age Group | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1954 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year of age | 362 | 306 | 175 | 97 | 29 | 30 |
| Between 1 and 5 years | 187 | 158 | 80 | 39 | 7 | 6 |
| Between 5 and 15 years | 64 | 67 | 58 | 22 | 10 | 4 |
| Between 15 and 25 years | 66 | 60 | 67 | 65 | 12 | 3 |
| Between 25 and 65 years | 454 | 474 | 466 | 382 | 311 | 238 |
| 65 years and over | 335 | 356 | 387 | 529 | 633 | 513 |
| Totals | 1,468 | 1,421 | 1,243 | 1,134 | 1,002 | 794 |
MATERNAL MORTALITY
There were no deaths from Puerperal Sepsis or other Maternal
causes during the current year, a similar position to that recorded
last year.
Three deaths were registered for the year 1952 and the corresponding
figures for 1951, 1950, 1949 and 1948 were 4, 0, 1 and 2
respectively.
INFANTILE MORTALITY
The Infantile Mortality Rate, measured by the deaths of
children under one year of age to the number of live births registered
was 22.17 per thousand live births as compared with 18.10 for the
previous year. For the County of London the rate was 20.7 and
for England and Wales 25.5 per 1,000 related live births.
The present Borough figure of 22.17 is 1.47 higher than that for
London and shows an increase of 4.07 over that returned for the
previous year and is no less than 7.57 greater than the rate for 1952.
The actual number of infantile deaths recorded during the year