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Vascular Lesions of Nervous System.—This class, which
includes deaths arising from Cerebral Haemorrhage, Embolism and
Thrombosis was responsible for a total of 77 deaths. The age
distribution was as follows :— 2 between 15 and 25 years ; 1 between
25 and 45 years ; 9 between 45 and 65 years ; 31 between 65 and 75
years and 34 from 75 years upwards.
Heart Disease.—Under the new classifications this disease has
been divided into three sub-headings : (a) Coronary Disease,
Angina, (b) Hypertension with Heart Disease, and (c) Other Heart
Disease.
The total deaths occasioned by such maladies amounted to 235
(119 males—116 females) compared with a figure of 259 for 1956, and
as usual, the deaths from this category occupied the principal place
in the classification of diseases in that they formed 27.4% of the
total of deaths from all causes.
The speed and strain of modern civilisation is thought to have
a great bearing on diseases of the heart and circulation and it is
pertinent to state here that in Greenwich over a quarter of the
deaths from these so called ' stress ' diseases occurred in people
between the ages of 25 and 65 years, the most productive period of
life. It is significant too that males formed, by far the larger
proportion of the deaths in this age category, viz 73%.
This heavy mortality in middle-aged man in the more civilised
countries has been the subject of intensive investigation and although
social and environmental conditions are probably pre-disposing
factors in hypertension and coronary disease recent research has
focussed attention on diet and, in particular, on fatty acids.
In animals where atherosclerosis has been artificially induced
occlusion is so rare that it would appear that the problem is not
simply the thickening of arteries but of their blockage or occlusion
and some research workers are confident that the cause is to be found
in a disturbance of the fat and cholesterol metabolism and coagulability
of the arterial blood.
Diseases of the Respiratory System. — There were
altogether 127 deaths from these diseases. Bronchitis accounting
for 80 and Pneumonia (all forms) for 44. The total shows a decrease
of 31 from that of the previous year but there was an increase of 8