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

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London County Council 1901

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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15
Health of Haydock,* in which he shows that by a modification of Dr. Farr's "short" method
"expectations of life" at quinquennial or decennial intervals of age can be calculated which are so near
the true values that they can, for all practical purposes, be compared with the expectation of life
obtained by the more laborious "extended" method of life table construction. With the object of
obtaining some indication of the improvement or otherwise in the conditions affecting longevity
obtaining in London, the short life table for 1881-90 has been reconstructed on the lines suggested by
Dr. Hay ward, and the "expectations of life" thus obtained are set out in the following table—

Table III. Comparison of the Expectation of Life at various ages in London, 1881-90 and 1891-1900.

550.3551.601.2553.9655.121.16
1046.7947.841.0550.4851.491.01
1542.4443.400.9646.1847.100.92
2038.2639.130.8741.9742.770.80
2534.2434.960.7237.8538.460.61
3526.8927.250.3630.1730.420.25
4520.4420.650.2123.2223.290.07
5514.6414.760.1216.6716.720.05
659.719.760.0510.9411.010.07
755.845.910.076.556.570.02

It will be seen from the table that the "expectation of life" is greater in the case of both
males and females at each age in 1891-1900 than in 1881-90, the increase is most marked
at the earlier ages and gradually becomes less as age advances. The results obtained appear to be
generally consistent † with the decline in the mortality figures at each age-period shown in Table IV.
but it should be pointed out that the mortality figures upon which the life table for the period
1881-90 was based were uncorrected for deaths occurring in public institutions as the facts relating
to these deaths were not ascertainable for that decennium; the errors introduced into the figures of
the earlier life table on this account are probably not of very great magnitude owing to the fact that
the deaths of Londoners occurring outside London are more or less counterbalanced by the deaths of
non.Londoners occurring within the London area, but inasmuch as the exact amount of error so introduced
is not ascertainable too much importance must not be attached to the comparison made in
Table III., and the figures for 1881-90 must be regarded as approximate only. When the figures for
the decennium 1901-1910 are available, however, and a life table on the experience of that decennium
is constructed the present extended life table will furnish an invaluable standard of comparison, the
figures being free from the objections just pointed out which can be urged against the life table for
1881-90 on the ground of method of construction and inaccuracy of data. The following table shows
the death rates at each age period obtaining in the two decennia to which the life tables for
London relate, the figures for the decennia 1861-70 and 1871-80 are included in the table for purposes
of comparison.

Table IV. Death-rates in London per 1,000 living at different age-periods in the decennia 1861-70, 1871-80, 1881-90, and 1891-1900.

Age-period.Males.Females.
1861-70.1871-80.1881-90.1891-1900.186-70.1871-80.1881-90.1891-1900.
Under 586.9177.8673.0971.9776.3267.6663.2661.99
59.377.425.934.978.856.735.825.17
104.243.572.922.464.073.452.892.48
155.825.054.053.475.104.363.582.94
208.236.955.444.596.225.464.403.46
2510.8610.138.657.368.808.046.825.65
35 451714 25.6816.64 25.3714.96 23.871422 23.1412.84 18.5212.32 18.0811.42 17.2310.68 17.12
5543.8543.2041.3340.6833.4532.9530.7731.01
6582.8380.0877.9777.7867.2366.6363.3863.44
75184.51176.81169.36166.45164.71159.50150.26150.73
All ages26.5524.3822.1020.8822.3420.6018.8317.88

* Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. LXII., Part III. Dr. Hayward does not claim complete mathematical
demonstration for his improved method, but by applying his method to several of the extended life tables recently published
he obtains results which approximate with remarkable exactitude to those obtained from the "extended" method of construction.
† It will be seen that the "expectation" of females aged 55 years and upwards is slightly greater in the later decennium,
notwithstanding that the mortality at these ages shows a slight increase. The differences, however, are very small, and the
inconsistency is due to the "short" method of construction adopted in the life table for 1881-90.