London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hampstead 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hampstead Borough]
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38
Table III indicates that older people are more liable to sustain injury
from an accident and such injury is more liable to be fatal, for 60 per
Table III.
| Age. | Fatal Accidents, 1950-1952. | In-patients, New End Hospital. | In-patients, Hampstead General Hospital. | Population(1951), Hampstead, to the nearest 100. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | |
| 0—4 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3,300 | 3,500 |
| 5—14 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 8 | 20 | 3 | 3,100 | 3,300 |
| 15—24 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3,000 | 7,300 |
| 25—34 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 7,000 | 11,500 |
| 35—44 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 8,100 | 9,700 |
| 45—54 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 4,900 | 8,900 |
| 55—64 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 4,400 | 6,200 |
| 65 + | 12 | 40 | 23 | 50 | 3 | 10 | 3,500 | 7,400 |
| Unknown | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | 57 | 123 | 110 | 50 | 32 | 37,300 | 57,800 | |
cent. of the fatal accidents occurred in people over 65 years although
only 28 per cent. of the patients admitted to hospital were so aged.
Whilst such a finding is to be expected, the difference in the figures
nevertheless underlines the importance of taking steps to prevent
accidents occurring to older people.
Table IV. Month of Occurrence.
| Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May | June | rJuly | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | 51 | 64 | 59 | 57 | 60 | 77 | 62 | 83 | 71 | 95 | 68 |
The highest incidence was in the two months of September and
November. The mean incidence was 68 accidents per month.
Place of Occurrence.
An analysis of the place of the accident was difficult as frequently
there was insufficient information on the records. However, classification
into the three broad groups, industrial, road and home, is shown in
Table V.
The figures for industrial accidents cannot be compared with those
supplied by H.M. Inspector of Factories and quoted earlier, as those
figures only applied to premises coming under the Factories Act, whilst
the figures in Table V apply to all accidents at work. Included in
"road" accidents are those occurring in streets and other public places,
such as stations, etc., and therefore are more inclusive than the accidents
studied by the Road Safety Committee.