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20
especially cigarette smoking. The risk of the disease seems to be
almost proportional to the amount of tobacco smoked and it must be
remembered that there may be a time lag of ten to even twenty years
before the results of excessive smoking are seen. Nevertheless the risk
of lung cancer, which on the whole affects a younger age group than is
normally affected by cancer, though perhaps not great, is sufficient for
thinking people to bear in mind when deciding on their personal habits.
In 1952, 86 Lewisham residents (77 males and 9 females) died of
lung cancer. This compares with a total of 78 persons in 1951 and the
same number in 1950. In each of those three years the age group most
affected was between 45 and 65. For the three years 57 percent of the
deaths from this cause were below 65 years of age, whereas for other
cancerous conditions only 43 percent were in that group. In other
words, lung cancer is not only killing an increasing number of persons,
but is doing this at a somewhat younger age. An analysis has been
made of the 551 deaths from lung cancer recorded in this borough in
the seven years 1946 to 1952 and these have been divided into wards.
Results are shown in the following table and also on the accompanying
map. This map can be compared with the map on page 44, which
deals with deaths from respiratory causes as a result of the 1952 fog.
This comparison shows points of interest, but if the comparison is in
fact made one important point should be remembered : the maps are
designed particularly to show the wards with the highest figures and those
with the lowest. The scale therefore is very different in the one from
what it is in the other. In the fog map the black areas have a death rate
more than four times that of the white area, whereas in the lung cancer
map the worst ward is only just over 25 percent more than the average
for the whole borough and the best ward is only just over 25 percent
less than the average for the whole borough ; the worst ward being just
twice the best ward. It will be noted also that the lung cancer map
covers seven years whereas the fog map merely portrays that one incident.