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
Paddington 1900
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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55
Report of Medical Officer of Health.]
With the exception of 1898, the death-rate from phthisis in Paddington has been the lowest*
recorded each year in the Western Sanitary Districts. Indeed, in each of 5 years (1896-1900) the
local rate has been one of the lowest in the whole Metropolis. The districts with rates lower than
that of the Parish are set out below:—
Phthisis. Death-rates (per 1,000 persons living at all ages).
| 1896. | 1897. | 1898. | 1899. | 1900. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stoke New ington (0.82) | Hampstead (0.74) | Hampstead (0.74) | Hampstead (0.84) | Hampstead (0.85) | |
| Wandsworth (0.97) | Lewisham (0.94) | Lewisham (0.88) | Stoke Newington (0.88) | Lee (0.96) | |
| Lewisham (1.04) | Lee (1.10) | Stoke Newington (1.04) | Lee (1.00) | Stoke Newington (1.04) | |
| Hampstead (1.12) | Paddington (1.13) | Lee (1.10) | Lewisham (1.15) | Lewisham (1.11) | |
| Paddington (1.27) | Wandsworth (1.13) | Paddington (1.15) | Eotherhithe (1.14) | ||
| Kensington | (1.26) | Paddington (1.15) | |||
| St. George, Hanover Square | (1.81) | ||||
| Paddington | (1.38) | ||||
The rates from "other forms of tuberculosis" are not available.
Since 1875 the deaths from tuberculosis have been tabulated under 12 age-groups for the whole
Parish, and the total deaths in each of the Sub-Districts have also been recorded. On the basis of
these records the mortality has been calculated:—
(a) Per 1,000 persons at all ages in the Parish and its two divisions; and
(b) Per 1,000 persons estimated living at each age-period, Parish only.
For the complete examination of the subject, these rates should be set out for each year and
diagrams constructed to show graphically the directions in which the various curves have fluctuated.
This work could not be completed for this Report, but averages have been struck for the 5 quinquennial
periods in each case (see Tables 28, p. 56, and 29, p. 57). If Table 28 be examined,
it will be found that the mortality from phthisis has steadily diminished in each quinquennial period,
and that the rates recorded last year in each of the districts were lower than any of the corresponding
averages. In St. Mary the reduction in the rate for the fifth period (1.334), as compared with that
of the first (2.227), was equal to 40 per cent., while in St. John the reduction amounted to 32 per cent,
(from 1.159 in the first to 0.795 in the fifth period).
The mortality from tabes mesenterica has fluctuated somewhat irregularly, but the rates for the
fifth period are all markedly below those for any other. Similar irregularities are noted in the
mortalities from tubercular meningitis, there being, however, a much smaller mortality in the
fifth than in the first period. With regard to other forms, the variations are more markedly
irregular, and the rates for the fifth period are all higher than those for the first. It should, however,
be observed that the numbers on which these last rates are based are comparatively small, and
the rates themselves, in consequence, of less value than the others. The percentage reductions and
increase in the fifth period, as compared with the first, are set out in the last line of Table 28.