View report page

54
residents during 1971 reveals that congenital anomalies and
placental insufficiency were the major causes. Hypertension was
the underlying cause in 14.3% of the cases and, in a similar
proportion, the reasons were unknown. A full analysis of causes of
stillbirths is given in the following table:—
Abruptio placenta 1 Macerated foetus
(cause unknown) 2
Accidental haemorrhage
—concealed 1 Multiple pregnancy 1
—hypertension 1 Placenta praevia 2
-infarcted placenta 1 Placental insufficiency 5
. . . —essential hypertension 1
Anencephaly 4
—pre-eclamptic toxaemia 1
Ante partum haemorrhage
(hypertension) 2 Precipitate delivery 1
Congenital anomalies 3 Prematurity—puncture rupture
of membranes 1
Cord round neck 3
—breech delivery and
Diabetes mellitus 1 congenital anomalies 1
Eclamptic fit (hypertension) 1 Retro-placental clot 1
Intra-uterine death Rhesus incompatability 1
(ac. hypertension) 1 Unknown causes 6
Of the Borough's 42 stillbirths (19 males and 23 females) 6 were
illegitimate.
Fertility
Fertility is a measure of the rate at which a specific community
adds to itself by births. It is not to be confused with population
growth which is the net result of gains from births, losses by
deaths and adjustments in connection with the movements of persons
in or out of the area. Nor must too much reliance be placed
upon the crude birth rate which, although a convenient way of
giving the gross rate of increase of a population by births, serves
only as a short-term measurement of the flow of births.
True fertility rates must be based not upon the total population
but upon the "population at risk" i.e. live births expressed as a