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Asthma—Although hitherto not so classified, asthma is now
regarded as a respiratory condition and there were 7 deaths in
1970 from this cause, giving a rate of 0.03.
Other Respiratory Deaths—Compared with a figure of 23 deaths
for 1969 the current year's total of 39 shows an increase of almost
70%. This unexpected rise occurred in the "under 1 year" and
"over 75 years" age groups.
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.
Total deaths in the Borough from all forms of tuberculosis
numbered 7 producing a rate of 0.03. Of the deaths registered,
4 were males and 3 females, with 2 being of non-pulmonary type.
The comparable rate for England and Wales was 0.03 and that
returned for Greater London was 0.04.
Violent Deaths
As a classification, the term "violent death" includes those
deaths arising from motor vehicle accidents, suicide, homicide and
"other forms" of accident.
During 1970 there were 82 deaths from violence in the Borough,
giving a rate of 0.36 per 1,000 population compared with a rate of
0.46 for England and Wales and 0.43 for Greater London.
Motor Vehicle Accidents—Road accidents, which are now the
commonest cause of death in adolescents and young adults, were
responsible for 6,727 deaths in England and Wales during the year,
an increase of 1.5% over the previous year when the total was
6,628.
Twenty-nine persons in the Borough died from motor vehicle
accidents during 1970, 7 more than those recorded for the
previous year. The calculated rate of 0.13 compares with 0.14 and
0.12, the rates for England and Wales and Greater London
respectively.
Home Accidents—This year's total of 19 deaths from home
accidents shows an increase of 5 over the 1969 figure giving a rate
of 0.08. Of these, 7 resulted from falls to persons whose average
age was 82 years. Five persons succumbed to carbon monoxide
poisoning including a girl of 8 months and 2 boys of 8 and 9 years
respectively. There were 3 deaths from asphyxia, 2 from inhalation
of fire fumes and one, a boy of 3 years, from the inhalation of