London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Greenwich 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough.
This page requires JavaScript
122
Tuberculosis.
At the end of 1956 there were 1,011 patients on the Chest Clinic
register, consisting of:—
Pulmonary Tuberculosis Non-pulmonary Tuberculosis
Men Women Children Men Women Children
495 431 41 15 19 10
During the year there were 69 new notifications of Pulmonary
Tuberculosis and 9 of non-pulmonary Tuberculosis, plus 5 posthumous
notifications.
There were 10 deaths of patients on the Tuberculosis register
and 5 posthumous notifications. Of these 15 deaths only 10 were
due to tuberculosis as will be outlined later in this report.
| Year | Population of Borough | Notifications | Incidence per 1,000 of population | Deaths | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulm. Tub. | Non-Pulm. Tub. | Pulm. Tub. | Non-Pulm. Tub. | Total | Rate per 1,000 | ||
| 1938 | 95,770 | 153 | 38 | 1.59 | 0.39 | 53 | 0.55 |
| 1940 | 74,280 | 125 | 17 | 1.68 | 0.23 | 73 | 0.97 |
| 1942 | 60,530 | 164 | 18 | 2.70 | 0.29 | 64 | 1.06 |
| 1944 | 61,800 | 113 | 16 | 1.82 | 0.26 | 47 | 0.76 |
| 1946 | 76,840 | 173 | 18 | 2.25 | 0.23 | 56 | 0.73 |
| 1948 | 84,410 | 112 | 17 | 1.32 | 0.20 | 62 | 0.73 |
| 1950 | 89,570 | 126 | 18 | 1.41 | 0.20 | 50 | 0.56 |
| 1952 | 90,880 | 101 | 18 | 1.11 | 0.19 | 42 | 0.46 |
| 1954 | 90,600 | 86 | 13 | 0.95 | 0.14 | 22 | 0.24 |
| 1955 | 90.600 | 86 | 5 | 0.95 | 0.05 | 18 | 0.19 |
| 1956 | 88,780 | 69 | 9 | 0.78 | 0.10 | 10 | 0.11 |
The number of cases on the Tuberculosis Register does not
diminish and has remained at about 1,000 for many years.
There is now a very great tendency not to discharge patients
after five years of quiescence, but to advise them to continue to
come for an annual check-up, and this, although very much to the
benefit of the patient does keep up the numbers on the clinic register.
From this table it will now be seen that the incidence rate of
tuberculosis, after remaining high after the war, is now diminishing