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48
increase of 80% but as the actual number of deaths was small the
change is probably of no significance although the trend will need
to be watched.
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 784 deaths (430 males and 354 females) during the
current year. This total, which was a decrease of 34 from that of
the previous year, formed 31.6% of the total of deaths from all
causes and gives a rate of 3.40 per 1,000 of the population. The
rate for 1966 was 3.54.
Deaths in the Borough from coronary disease alone accounted
for 627 (362 males and 265 females), a rise of 1.6%. The increase
was mainly evident in females over 75 years. Compared with figures
of 2.38 and 2.30 for England and Wales and Greater London
respectively, the Borough rate was slightly less favourable at 2.72.
Vascular Lesions of Nervous System
Under this classification, which includes cerebral haemorrhage,
embolism and thrombosis, some 280 deaths were recorded during
1967, a decrease of over 11% from the previous year which had
been an increase of 7.1% over the 1966 figure. Of the present total,
168 were females and, apart from coronary disease, this constituted
the main cause of deaths in females during the year although 114
(68%) occurred in women over the age of 75 years and only 6 in
females under 55 (3.5%).
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 592 victims
during the year under review, an advance of 47 over those recorded
during 1966.