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improvement while infant deaths (q.v.) registered a somewhat less
favourable fluctuation.
Heart Disease
Cardiovascular and atherosclerotic diseases as a group constitute
the greatest possible challenge to preventive medicine. Each
week, on an average, over 2,200 people in England and Wales die
from coronary disease and the incidence is increasing, particularly
in the case of the middle-aged male. In fact, in males between the
ages of 25 and 45 years, the rate of heart attack has more than
doubled during the past decade. Curiously, coronary disease in a
woman before the age of 45 years is uncommon and it would seem
that, during her child-bearing epoch, her hormones give her a
'built-in' protection.
Recognised as the principal 'killer' complaint of modern times,
this classification, covering as it does, (a) coronary disease, angina,
(b) hypertension with heart disease and (c) other heart disease, was
responsible for 785 deaths (412 males and 373 females) during the
current year. This is equivalent to approximately 31% of the total
of deaths from all causes and gives a rate of 3.39 per 1,000 of the
population.
Deaths in the Borough from coronary disease alone accounted
for 552 (320 males and 232 females) producing a rate similar to
that returned for England and Wales, viz. 2.38 compared with a
figure of 2.27 for Greater London.
Vascular Lesions of Nervous System
Under this classification, which includes cerebral haemorrhage,
embolism and thrombosis, some 295 deaths were recorded during
1965, a rise of approximately 22% over the figure for the previous
year. Of these, 183 were females and, apart from coronary disease,
this constituted the main cause of deaths in females during the year
although 113 (61.7%) occurred in women over the age of 75 years
and only 10 in females under 55.
Cancer
Second only to heart disease as the principal cause of death
in the community, this disease, which has so many psychological
connotations not met with in other diseases, claimed fewer victims
during the year under review. With the exception of lung cancer,
which registered a 15% increase, all forms of cancer, including
leukaemia, showed some reduction. The total of 554 cancer deaths
was equivalent to 21.8% of deaths from all causes, indicating that
approximately one death in every five resulted from some form of
cancer. The following table shows the various sites affected:—