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
Islington 1858
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Parish of St Mary]
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23.
| Class 1. | Class 2. | Class 3. | Total. | Mean Mortality of three years in streets, &c., where those deaths occurred. | Percentage of Deaths from Epidemic Sore-throat. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superior Group | 36 | 7 | 7 | 50 | 142 | 35.2 |
| Inferior Group | 20 | 4 | 30 | 124 | 24.2 |
Here, then, we meet with the very reverse of that which obtains in the instance of
other zymotic maladies, (p. 6). The numbers favour an idea which has been
floating in the minds of many medical men that I have conversed with, viz., that
epidemic sore throat and diphtheria attack the middle and comfortable classes of our
population in preference to those who occupy the lower walks in life. The above
proportion is preserved when merely the true and reputed deaths from diphtheria are
compared with the mean mortality of the streets in which they occurred, the numbers
then being for the superior group 32.8 per cent., and for the inferior 21.6 per cent.
Taking the ascertained deaths from diphtheria alone, viz., Class 1, the proportion for
the superior group is 32.1 per cent., and of the inferior 23.5. The fatality of epidemic
sore throat appears to have been half again as great in the middle as in the lower
ranks of society, where a comparison is made with that arising out of diseases of all
other kinds. The absolute frequency of the disease in the two groups is another
question for the solution of which I do not possess the necessary data.
24. The following Table represents the frequency with which the disease in the 80 cases is stated to have occurred
| Primary. | Secondary to | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlatina. | Measles. | Hooping-couifh. | Croup. | Influenza. | ||
| Class 1 | 47 | 5 | 2 | 1 | _ | 1 |
| Class 2 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | |
| Class 3 | 10 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| Total | 66 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
It is to be observed, however, that in the certificates of death furnished to the
registrars by medical men, the secondary disease of which a patient died is not constantly
entered. Of the primary cases in Class 1, 29 were males and 18 females.
25.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 to 14 | 15 to 21 | 22 to 28 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | — | 1 | 7 | 4 | e | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | |
| Class 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | — | — |
| Class 3 | — | — | — | 3 | — | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | — |
| 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 25 | 7 | 4 |