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
London County Council 1898
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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The followmg figures show that this change is taking place — Number of children aged 3—13 per cent, of total cases at all ages of diphtheria notified—
| 1892 | 50.9 | 1896 | 60.3 |
| 1893 | 51.0 | 1897 | 60.5 |
| 1894 | 57.8 | 1898 | 61.8 |
| 1895 | 57.8 |
During these years the number of children on the roll of the London Board School increased
from 465,142 in 1892, to 520,970 in 1898. These figures will well deserve further consideration
when the age-distribution of the population is shown by the next census.
Diphtheria—Proportion of cases and deaths in hospitals.
Diagram X. (page 23) shows the proportion of London cases of diphtheria admitted into the
hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board during each of the years 1890-98 inclusive, and the
proportion of deaths from, this disease which occurred in these institutions during each of the
years 1888-98 inclusive. It will be seen that these proportions were greater in the year 1898 than
in any previous year.
Diphtheria—Age and sex distribution.
As in previous years, with but slight exception, the fatality was greatest among children in the first year of life—
| Males. | Females. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age-period. | Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 livirg | Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 Jiving. | ||
| Cases. | Deaths. | Cases. | Deaths. | |||||||
| All ages. | 5,454 | 908 | 16.6 | 256 | 43 | 6,401 | 878 | 13. 7 | 269 | 37 |
| 0— | 157 | 67 | 42.7 | 272 | 116 | 116 | 50 | 43.1 | 197 | 85 |
| 1— | 397 | 148 | 37.3 | 768 | 286 | 340 | 135 | 39.7 | 652 | 259 |
| 2— | 474 | 156 | 32.9 | 877 | 289 | 483 | 145 | 30.0 | 890 | 267 |
| 3— | 630 | 151 | 24.0 | 1,204 | 288 | 571 | 122 | 21.4 | 1,066 | 228 |
| 4— | 657 | 120 | 18.3 | 1,291 | 236 | 635 | 118 | 18.6 | 1,242 | 231 |
| 5— | 1,718 | 215 | 12.5 | 711 | 89 | 2,107 | 254 | 12.1 | 863 | 104 |
| 10— | 623 | 25 | 4.0 | 282 | 11 | 795 | 32 | 4.0 | 354 | 14 |
| 15— | 282 | 10 | 3.5 | 134 | 5 | 386 | 8 | 2.1 | 164 | 3 |
| 20— | 181 | 6 | 3.3 | 87 | 3 | 304 | 3 | 1.0 | 121 | 1 |
| 25— | 205 | 3 | 1.5 | 57 | 1 | 406 | 5 | 1.2 | 99 | 1 |
| 35— | 93 | 4 | 4.3 | 35 | 2 | 175 | 3 | 1.7 | 60 | 1 |
| 45— | 21 | 2 | 9.5 | 11 | 1 | 60 | 1 | 1.7 | 29 | — |
| 55 and upwards. | 16 | 1 | 6.2 | 9 | 1 | 23 | 2 | 8.7 | 10 | 1 |
Dinhtheria—Use of antito.nc serum.
The following table has been prepared to show the variations in the case.mortality of diphtheria in London at the several ages. The marked fall in the fatality at " all ages," and especially at the younger ages in recent years, will be observed. The question naturally arises, to what extent is this due to the use of antitoxic serum—
| Age. period. | Males. | Females. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1893. | 1894. | 1895. | 1896. | 1897. | 1898. | 1893. | 1894. | 1895. | 1896. | 1897. | 1898. | |
| All ages. | 26.4 | 25.8 | 22.7 | 21.0 | 18.5 | 16.6 | 21.8 | 23.1 | 19.6 | 18.0 | 16.3 | 13.7 |
| 0— | 66.9 | 56.0 | 52.6 | 52.3 | 35.0 | 42.7 | 57.6 | 58.3 | 52.8 | 50.4 | 48.1 | 43.1 |
| 1— | 65.8 | 59.5 | 48.5 | 50.8 | 40.6 | 37.3 | 67.2 | 58.6 | 50.0 | 45.3 | 46.5 | 39.7 |
| 2— | 53.2 | 44.4 | 41.6 | 37.8 | 34.2 | 32.9 | 43.9 | 50.5 | 41.0 | 38.7 | 31.3 | 30.0 |
| 3— | 45.9 | 40.5 | 33.0 | 25.7 | 25.0 | 24.0 | 45.3 | 37.5 | 31.9 | 28.2 | 28.1 | 21.4 |
| 4— | 38.5 | 31.5 | 30.4 | 24.5 | 20.4 | 18.3 | 37.0 | 36.5 | 30.5 | 26.7 | 21.2 | 18.6 |
| 5— | 20.9 | 18.5 | 15.6 | 15.8 | 14.9 | 12.5 | 24.2 | 21.6 | 17.7 | 17.0 | 14.7 | 12.1 |
| 10— | 6.6 | 8.4 | 6.0 | 6.4 | 5.7 | 4.0 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| 15— | 2.8 | 3.9 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| 20— | 3.2 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 5.3 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.0 |
| 25— | 2.8 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 1.2 |
* See footnote, page 22.