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 1914
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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50
MORTALITY IN CHILDHOOD.
Table 34 shows the sex-age distribution of attacks and deaths during the three years. It
will be noticed that last year the attacks among males at ages under one year were again more
numerous than those among females, and that attacks among females aged 1-2 years exceeded
those among males. The differences between the numbers, however, were not so pronounced
as in 1913.
TABLE 34.
| Known Cases. | Deaths. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recovering. | Dying. | Totals. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1914. | 1913. | 1912. | 1914. | 1913. | 1912. | 1914. | 1913. | 1912. | 1914. | 1913. | 1912. | ||||||||||||||
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | ||
| Ages in Months. | 0—3 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | - | 1 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 3—6 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 21 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | |
| 6—9 | 9 | 13 | 21 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 14 | 25 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| 9—12 | 18 | 7 | 20 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | — | |
| Under 1 year | 41 | 33 | 64 | 48 | 37 | 29 | 13 | 17 | 23 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 54 | 50 | 87 | 55 | 42 | 37 | 14 | 9 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 7 | |
| Aged 1—2 years | 36 | 39 | 48 | 62 | 23 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 3 | — | — | 1 | 37 | 40 | 51 | 62 | 23 | 27 | 2 | — | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Totals | 77 | 72 | 112 | 110 | 60 | 55 | 14 | 18 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 91 | 90 | 138 | 117 | 65 | 64 | 16 | 9 | 19 | 15 | 15 | 10 | |
| 148 | 222 | 115 | 32 | 33 | 14 | 181 | 255 | 129 | 25 | 34 | 25 | ||||||||||||||
An analysis of the attacks at ages under nine months shows that of the total known attacks
(66) 22 were in infants fed exclusively at the breast, 35 were entirely artificially fed (hand
reared), and 9 had a mixed diet of breast and bottle food. The total fatality among these
children was 303 per cent.; that among those fed at the breast only, 27.2 per cent.; among those
artificially fed, 342 per cent.; and among those on a mixed diet, 22.2 per cent. There were 19
deaths at ages under nine months of children whose illness was not known during life, 18 of those
children being fed artificially, and one on a mixed diet.
"Diarrhœa."
At ages 0-9 months.
| Method of Feeding. | Recovering. | Known Cases. Dying. | Total. | Deaths. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | |
| Breast | 7 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 12 | — | — |
| Artificial | 12 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 19 | 16 | 11 | 7 |
| Mixed | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | — | 1 |
| Totals | 21 | 25 | 11 | 9 | 32 | 34 | 11 | 8 |
Of the 56 deaths included in Table 32, 33 (58.9 per cent.) occurred in institutions, including
29 in the local Infirmary. The 56 deaths included 9 (16.6 per cent.) of illegitimate children, 5
being males and 4 females.
Health Visiting.—The services of the Visitor employed by the School for Mothers were
retained by the Council until the beginning of November, 1914, when the permanent staff of the
Department was strengthened by the appointment of an additional Woman Sanitary Inspector.
The work of health visiting was thus carried on uninterruptedly throughout the year.
The infants visited numbered 2,221, the calls numbering 4,608. In each case a copy of
the booklet on "Infant Rearing" was left with the mother. Breast-feeding was reported
in 1,896 instances, artificial in 171, and mixed in 154, the proportions of infants receiving each
form of diet being:—
Breast 85.4 (88.5) per cent Artificial 7.7 (7.6) Mixed 6.9 (3.8)
The figures in parentheses show the proportions among infants visited during 1913.
The live births notified during the year numbered 2,665.