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156
i.e., the longer an infant or child is fed upon the Depot milk, the
better its chance of living.
Of class (c), the periods during which the 9 infants and children
who died had been fed upon the Depot milk were 16, 14, 10, 8,
7, 7, 7, 3 and 1 days respectively, so that these deaths cannot
fairly be classified as deaths connected with the Depot.
Including all deaths, the mortality rate amongst the Depot-fed
infants and children is 69 per 1000, and this rate is much lower
than those for the Borough of Lambeth in general, and for Marsh
Ward (where the milk Depot is situated) and Bishop's or the
other Inner Wards in particular. If the mortality rate is calculated
only on infants and children who have been fed upon the
Depot milk for continuous periods of 4 weeks and over, the rate
is 63 per 1000, whilst the mortality rate amongst infants and
children fed upon the Depot milk for 26 weeks and over is nil.
Thus the rates per 1000 births for 1907 may be tabulated as
follows, quinquennial rates being added for comparison:—
1997. Quinquennial,
(Corrected.) 1902-6.
(Uncorrected.)
Depot-fed Infants 53-69 —
Whole Borough 109 134
Marsh 117 187
Inner Wards 101 158
The causes of the 18 deaths amongst the Depot-fed infants and
children deserve attention, and may be tabulated as follows:Whooping-cough,
2; consumption, 2; convulsions, 1; bronchitis,
5; pneumonia, 1; and diarrhoea and sickness, 7. Further, of
the 260 infants and children brought to the Depot, 150 (i.e., 58 per
cent.) were wasting, moribund or diseased, and of these 13 died
(i.e., 87 per cent.), whilst the remaining 110 (i.e., 42 per cent.)
were weakly and constitutionally below par, and of these 5 died
(i.e., 4.6 per cent.). These facts must be taken into account in
dealing with the mortality returns.