View report page

REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR
THE YEAR 1904.
To the Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors of the Borough of
Stoke Newington.
Gentlemen,
Everywhere the general death-rate for 1904 exceeded that for the
preceding year, when the exceptionally cool and wet summer and the
mild winter were responsible for the lowest death-rate ever recorded
for the country generally, and the general death-rate for the Borough,
which was 13.1 (as against 12.3 for 1903) is precisely the figure at
which it stood for the years 1901 and 1902. There are only two
Metropolitan Boroughs with lower rates, and the rate for London
generally was 16.1.
I am glad to be able to record a decrease in the rate of mortality
amongst infants. In my last Report I drew attention to the fact that
this rate was then the one unsatisfactory feature in the vital statistics
of the Borough, and that, whereas it had hitherto been one of the
three lowest in the Metropolis, during 1903 it had so increased that
there were seven other Boroughs with lower figures. The figure for
that year was 120.3, but for last year it was only 115.6.
It was to be expected that the infectious sickness attack-rate of
the Borough, which was remarkably low during 1903, would show an
increase during the ensuing year, but it is disappointing to find that
from the position of lowest in the Metropolis it increased during 1904
to a figure which was above that of fourteen other Metropolitan
Boroughs. The notifications of infectious disease (excluding chickenpox)
during 1904 showed an increase of over thirty per cent. above
those for 1903, and the consequent death-rates from diphtheria,