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
Lambeth 1910
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lambeth, Metropolitan Borough of]
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The wards in which the patients lived prior to death are as follows:—
| Wards. | 1908. | 1909. | 1910. | Total 3 Years (1909-10) | Percentages. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inner wards — | |||||
| Marsh | 8 | 19 | 10 | 37 | 73.6 |
| Bishop's | 32 | 18 | 17 | 67 | |
| Prince's | 32 | 23 | 29 | 94 | |
| Vauxhall | 14 | 10 | 6 | 30 | |
| Total Inner Wards | 86 | 70 | 62 | 218 | |
| Outer Wards— | |||||
| Stockwell | 6 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 26.4 |
| Brixton | 8 | 9 | 5 | 22 | |
| Heme Hill | 7 | 5 | 2 | 14 | |
| Tulse Hill | 6 | 1 | - | 7 | |
| Norwood | 10 | 7 | 3 | 20 | |
| Total Outer Wards | 37 | 28 | 13 | 78 | |
| Borough of Lambeth | 123 | 98 | 75 | 296 | |
As to the nationalities of the parents (mothers), 293 were
British (276 English, 13 Irish, 1 Welsh and 3 Scotch), and
3 foreign (2 French and 1 Italian).
In each case, the state of the premises was noted, and 288
were found to be good ( = 97.3 per cent.) and 8 (i.e., 2.7 per
cent.) bad, i.e., 67 nuisances were found to exist therein.
The conclusions to be drawn from the statistics for the
3 years (1908-1910), agree with those of other observers,
and may be tabulated as follows :
(a) Epidemic Diarrhœa chiefly attacks infants and
children under 12 months of age. (Of the 296 cases,
86.8 per cent. were under 12 months, and 13.2 per
cent. were over 12 months, of age.)
(b) Epidemic Diarrhœa is specially fatal to infants and
children wrongly and improperly fed. Breast-fed infants
suffer least, artificially-fed infants most. Of the 296 infants
and children fed, 14.2 per cent. were breast-fed entirely,
20.6 percent. breast- and artificially-fed, and 65.2