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56
mortality in childhood.
equal to a mortality rate of 1.05 per 1,000 persons of all ages, as compared with a rate of 0.36
recorded in 1910, and a mean rate of 0'45 for the years 1906-10. The only comparison of a
similar character which can be made for the Wards is that of numbers, as set out below.
Diarrhœa and Enteritis.
Deaths at all ages.
Queen's Harrow Maida West- , Lancaster Gate, Hyde
Borough. park Road Va]e bourne Church. Wgst £ast Pa'rk
1911 151 19 29 14 33 43 3 3 7
1910 52 3 9 11 10 16 1 — 2
1906-10 66 7 13 7 11 24 0 1 3
As already mentioned, the Registrar-General limited the tabulation of deaths from
diarrhoea* in his Quarterly Reports for the past year to those of children under two years of ageThe
number of deaths at those ages in the Borough was 135 last year, as compared with 45 in
1910 and an annual average of 61 during the five years 1906-10. (See below.)
Diarrhœa and Enteritis.
Deaths at ages 0—2 years.
Queen's Harrow Maida West- , Lancaster Gate, Hyde
Borough. Road Va]e boume Church. East.' Pa'rk.
1911 135 15 27 12 28 42 2 2 7
1910 45 3 9 9 7 16 1
1906-10 61 7 12 7 10 23 0 0 2
The 135 deaths were equivalent to a mortality of 0.94 per 1,000 persons of all ages, the
mean rate for the five years 1906-10 (based on the old system of classification, but recalculated
to a population estimated from the last census return) being 0 41, less than half the rate obtained
for the past year. In Table 10 the corresponding rates for the Metropolis and the districts
circumjacent to the Borough are set out, but considerable uncertainty attaches to the
comparisons. In the first place the proportions of children 0—2 years of age to total populations
vary in the different districts, and, in the second, the tabulation at present in use (the
International List) places more deaths under the heading of " Diarrhoea and Enteritis" than did
the old. Relatively to previous years the rates for the past year are overstated. With a view
to obtaining a more correct idea of the prevalence of diarrhcea during the past year (and
summer) an attempt has been made to adjust the old classification to the new, and to calculate
mean rates based on the estimated numbers of children aged 0—2 years for the period 1906-10.
The method adopted is too long for description here, but it will be found outlined in a paper
entitled "Diarrhoea in 1911 " read before the Epidemiological Section of the Royal Society of
Medicine in February of this year.† The results obtained for each Metropolitan City and
Borough, and the five groups thereof, are given in Table 35.
It will be seen from that table that the diarrhoea deaths in the County during the year were
equal to a mortality of 28.57 per 1,000 children aged 0—2 years, as compared with a mean rate
of 14.57, a difference of 14 per 1,000. In the third quarter of the year (the "summer") the
mortality was at the rate of 92.25 per 1,000 per annum, as compared with a mean rate of 54.38.
The difference between those rates—37.87—represents an increase of 69.6 per cent., which, large
as it, compares very favourably with the difference between the mean rate for 1906-10 and the
rate (1104) for the "summer" of 1899, the last year previous to 1911 characterized by an
exceptionally high diarrhoea mortality. The rate for 1899 was 102.9 per cent. higher than the
mean for 1906-10. The two meteorological elements which are held to influence the prevalence
of summer diarrhoea are earth temperature and rainfall, the former favouring the latter checking
excessive mortality. As regards earth temperature, the same maximum (64° at a depth of
4 ft.) was recorded in the two years 1899 and 1911, while, as regards rainfall, the former year
was slightly the wetter, 4.3 inches being measured during the third quarter, against 2.9 in the
* It is to be understood that " diarrhoea " is used simply as an abbreviation of " diarrhcea and enteritis."
+ Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1912, Vol. V. (Epidemiological Section), p. 99.