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53
Respiratory Deaths
PNEUMONIA—There were five children under one year of age
and 202 persons over 65 years in a total of 232 deaths from pneumonia
registered during 1968. The total, which consisted of 96
males and 136 females, showed an increase of 54 over that for
the previous year, indicating a rise of 30%.
Compared with rates of 0.84 and 1.00 for England and Wales
and Greater London respectively, the Borough returned a rate of
1.01 which was 0.24 greater than that for 1967.
BRONCHITIS and EMPHYSEMA—During the current year
Greenwich had a total of 194 bronchitis deaths, 147 males and 47
females, an increase of 43 over those recorded for the previous year,
indicating a rise of almost 32%.
The rate computed for the Borough is 0.85 compared with that
of 0.63 for England and Wales and 0.68 for Greater London.
INFLUENZA—Ten influenza deaths occurred during the year
under review (9 were in respect of persons over the age of 65 years)
giving a rate of 0.04 for the Borough. The national rate was 0.10
and that for Greater London 0.08.
No deaths from this cause were recorded in the Borough during
1967.
ASTHMA—Although hitherto not so classified, asthma is now
regarded as a respiratory condition and there were 5 deaths in
1968 from this cause.
OTHER RESPIRATORY DEATHS—Compared with a figure
of 16 deaths for 1967 the current year's total of 30 shows an
increase of almost 88%.
NOTE: An increase in respiratory deaths such as occurred in
the Borough during the year (approximately 42% over the 1967
figure) could well be ascribed to climatic conditions. Hours of
sunshine experienced in 1968 declined by almost 1/5th (days without
sun increased by almost one half to 99), total rainfall rose by
more than 4 inches to 29.42 and average temperatures during the
winter months were significantly lower. Inevitably, the greatest
effects of this inclement weather were to be found among those
residents over 65 years of age.
Tuberculosis
Recent years have seen lung disease in the form of tuberculosis
effectively controlled by chemotherapy and the breeding of tuberculin
tested herds of cattle has been eminently successful in almost
eliminating the dissemination of other forms of tuberculosis.