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11
Special causes of death at 10 year intervals
The diagrams show the changes which have taken place in the
proportions of death from certain causes in the last 50 years. The
symbols used are : V, violence; CI, childhood infections; TB,
tuberculosis; R, respiratory conditions; C, cancer; H/C, heart and
circulatory affections ; and O, other causes of death. It will be seen
that whereas the proportion of deaths by violence has not altered
greatly (except in 1941), childhood infections have almost vanished,
and tuberculosis has shown a considerable contraction in the last
decade. Respiratory conditions do not vary greatly, but cancer shows
a steady increase throughout the period, as also does disease of the
heart and circulation. " Other " disease shows a large decrease latterly
but this means that many cases which were undiagnosed, or put in a
miscellaneous group in years gone by, are now included with defined
diseases. To some extent this reflects a change of fashion in death
certification — many cases, for example, previously classified as deaths
from senility, are now classified as deaths from heart disease. The
diagrams therefore are not exact (they also do not take into account
the difference in age grouping of the population) but they do give
some indication of progress and frustration in 50 years.