London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hornsey 1921

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornsey, Borough of]

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7
their mothers. Further reference to the deaths of young children
will be made in the section of this report which deals with our
maternity and child welfare work. Some infant mortality rates
in other parts of England are given in Table A., and it is satisfactory
to notice that Hornsey is lower than any collection of
towns in this respect.
The death-rate of the Borough of Hornsey for the year under
review was 11.0 per thousand population. This is a low rate.
Hornsey has always prided itself, and rightly, upon a low deathrate,
and the rate this year, although not the lowest on record,
is very satisfactory. A low death-rate is never possible in an
unsanitary, dirty, mean and overcrowded area.
It should, however, be noted that a low death-rate is not
necessarily a reliable test of the sanitary circumstances of a district,
but depends very much upon the age and sex distribution
of the population. In a town such as ours the population consists
largely of vigorous people who work for their living, persons
up to the age of fifty years, among whom the death-rate is always
low. A maintained death-rate of eleven per thousand means
that, on the average, everyone dies at the age of ninety-one years,
and that if a baby dies at birth other people have to live well over
the century to make up for it! A low death-rate, therefore, depends
more upon the age constitution of the population than
upon its sanitary circumstances. The very low death-rates of
some previous years depend to some extent upon the fact that
the population for these years had been largely over-estimated;
and it is for this reason that the vital statistics for the past
twenty years have been revised and accurate rates have been
worked out. These are given in Table A., which is found in the
appendix to this report.
Causes of Death.—A tabulated statement showing the principal
causes of death is given in the appendix (Table B.). It is
desirable, however, to make a few comments on them here.
There were no deaths from Small-pox or Enteric (typhoid)
fever.
There were only 4 deaths from Scarlet fever, although the
disease was more than usually prevalent during the year.