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60
were registered for Greenwich during the current year giving a
rate of 0.96 per 1,000 total births. Of these, 2 were the result of
therapeutic abortions (ages 37 and 42 years) and the other was
due to pulmonary embolism in a female of 30 years arising from
phlebothrombosis of pelvic and leg vein after full term pregnancy.
For England and Wales the rate (ex. abortion) was 0.14 and for
Greater and Inner London rates of 0.12 and 0.17 were respectively
returned. The rate recorded for Greenwich was 0.32.
An abortion rate of 0.03 was registered for England and Wales
whilst that for Greater London was some three times greater at
0.09. The Greenwich rate was substantially higher at 0.64.
Infantile Mortality
Infant Mortality of any given locality is measured by relating the
number of deaths of children under one year of age recorded
during the year to the number of live births registered for that
particular area during the same period.
Bad housing, overcrowding, poor sanitation, low standards of
education, illegitimacy, all tend to produce higher infant mortality
rates. It follows therefore that the infant mortality rate should
provide a reasonably accurate indication of the social circumstances
of any particular area. However, it must be borne in mind
that as infant mortality has now reached relatively small proportions,
any slight deviation in the number of deaths tends to
misleading fluctuations in the rate and only a long-term appraisal
is likely to reflect the true position.
Substantial improvements have been achieved in this field of
public health since the beginning of the century. The infant
mortality rate for the area now known as the London Borough of
Greenwich was 130 per 1,000 live births in 1901, the actual number
of children dying before reaching the age of 1 year amounted to
818. Comparable figures for 1971 are 17.12 and 53 respectively.
Registering a decrease of 5.60 from last year's unusually high
figure our present infant mortality rate of 17.12 is not only 2.52
less than the average for the previous 6 years but it is also the
lowest recorded since the formation of the new Borough in 1965.
It compares favourably with the rate of 17.5 for England and
Wales and with that of 17.4 for Greater London. Inner London
returned a figure of 19.2.
Prematurity is by far the most common cause of infant mortality
and it may well be that, in many instances, the mere occurrence of