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 1903
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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33
phthisis.
phthisis mortality has been lowest during the three years (1901-03)—the mortality in
Hyde Park Ward being, however, but slightly higher. The highest mortality has been
recorded each year in Church Ward, where the housing conditions are least satisfactory.
TABLE 25. Phthisis and Housing. Wards of the Borough.
| Percentage of Total Population " Overcrowded " Living in homes of | Mortalities. (All ages.) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| less than 5 rooms. | 1901. | 1902. | 1903. | |
| Queen's Park 9.1 | 51.7 | 1.04 | 0.91 | 1.47 |
| Harrow Road 11.5 | 75.5 | 0.82 | 1.18 | 0.88 |
| Maida Vale 12.6 | 43.4 | 1.11 | 0.92 | 1.14 |
| Westbourne. 13.4 | 46.3 | 1.13 | 0.89 | 1.35 |
| Church 32.8 | 61.3 | 1.93 | 1.51 | 1.49 |
| Lancaster Gate— | ||||
| West 2.6 | 15.2 | 0.35 | 0.69 | 0.11 |
| East 2.1 | 10.2 | 0.12 | 0.73 | 0.25 |
| Hyde Park 5.2 | 25.3 | 0.50 | 0.69 | 0.28 |
The mortality of phthisis is especially disadvantageous to the community, as it falls heaviest on the productive vears of life, as appears from the following statement:—
| 0— | 15— | 25— | 35— | 45— | 5£ | — | 05— | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | ||
| 1903 | ... | 3 | 4 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 18 | 27 | 10 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| 1902 | ... | 2 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 19 | 15 | 20 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 4 |
| 1901 | ... | 2 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 21 | 22 | 10 | 21 | 9 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
The progress of the disease being usually slow, the foregoing figures indicate that
infection was probably, in the majority of cases, acquired in the early vears of life. Children
are always the first to show the ill effects of defective housing, and to that factor, conjoined
to neglect of the illnesses of childhood—especially measles and whooping cough—must be
attributed a large proportion of the phthisis now prevailing. Infective the disease undoubtedly
is, but infection, apart from the causes already mentioned, is probably a minor factor in the
spread of the disease. I here appears to be a danger, at the present time, of concentrating
too much attention on phthisis as an infectious disease, and of neglecting the more
effective factors connected with " housing " and child rearing.
Other Tubercular Diseases.—The deaths from the various forms of tubercular diseases
included under this head, numbered 54, as compared with 60 in 1902. The deaths in St.
Mary's Sub-district, numbered 37 ; in St. John's, 8; and in North-West Paddington, 9. The
decennial average number of deaths for the whole Borough was 80. The majority of deaths
occurred in early years of life. (See Table IV. Appendix, also Table V. for numbers of
deaths in the Wards).