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

City of Westminster 1922

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]

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Table: Tuberculosis. In 1922, 247 new cases of pulmonary disease were notified and 26 persons died who had not been notified in Westminster, a total of 273. Non-pulmonary forms of tuberculosis gave 54 new cases. The figures for a series of years are shown below:—

Tuberculosis. In 1922, 247 new cases of pulmonary disease were notified and 26 persons died who had not been notified in Westminster, a total of 273. Non-pulmonary forms of tuberculosis gave 54 new cases. The figures for a series of years are shown below:—

Pulmonary.Non-Pulmonary.Total of all forms.
General Population.c.l.h. and no Address.Total.
Males.Females.Males.Females.Males.Females.Total.
19111931191093424--77501
191223315411510512--59571
19132031748984749186177651
1914186105944390343872462
191515595598317462672389
1916183135649391423981472
1917209164517431423476507
19182932254045625055105667
1919197122304353352358411
1920143133294309292958367
1921118114372271192241312
1922119110422273243054327

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(Military cases which were excluded during the war were again made notifiable in 1920.)
A return required by the Ministry is appended, also a table showing
the distribution of the cases in the various wards of the city.

Table: Non-notified cases.—Pulmonary cases not notified in Westminster were 9.5 per cent, of the total, non-pulmonary 22.2 per cent.

Non-notified cases.—Pulmonary cases not notified in Westminster were 9.5 per cent, of the total, non-pulmonary 22.2 per cent.

1914.1915.1916.1917.1918.1919.1920.1921.1922.
Pulmonary464031354127332026
Non-pulmonary132421101487712

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Enquiry is made in each case as to the reason for non-notification;
the majority of the pulmonary cases had been notified elsewhere, several
of them came to London for treatment, some were sudden deaths, the
cause being only discovered on post-mortem examination, and some were
deaths in asylums. Among the non-pulmonary failure to notify was
chiefly due to the rapidity of the illness and difficulty of diagnosis.
In a larger proportion than usual the illness in a number of pulmonary
cases was in an acute form and ran a rapid course.
Attention was drawn in the Annual Report for 1920 to the fact that
the greater proportion of females in the population was a cause of fewer