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 1904
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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The use of antitoxin, both for curative and prophylactic purposes, is mentioned in some of the
reports, and it is stated that a supply is kept by the Medical Officer of Health for the use of medical
practitioners.
Proportion of cases admitted to hospital.
It will be seen on reference to diagram X. that the proportion of cases of diphtheria admitted
to the hospital of the Metropolitan Asylums Board during 1904 was slightly less than the proportion
admitted during the preceding year.
Diphtheria—Age and sex distribution.
The following table shows the cases, deaths, case-rates, death-rates, and fatality of diphtheria
at the several ages and for each sex in London during the year 1904. The incidence of attack at "all
ages" was, as in preceding years greater on females than on males. The incidence of deaths was
the same on both sexes as "all age3," while the fatality was higher among males than among
females. In the age groups adopted for the purposes of this table the greatest incidence of attack was
upon males of three and females of four years of age; the greatest incidence of death was upon both
males and females of one year of age. The fatality was greatest among males under one and females
of one year of age.
| Age period. | Males. | Females. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 300,000 living. | Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | |||
| Cases. | Deaths. | Cases. | Deaths. | |||||||
| All ages | 3,340 | 359 | 10.7 | 152 | 16 | 3,879 | 385 | 9.9 | 158 | 16 |
| 0— | 114 | 41 | 36.0 | 202 | 73 | 79 | 25 | 31.6 | 141 | 45 |
| 1— | 286 | 59 | 20.6 | 573 | 118 | 249 | 87 | 34.9 | 499 | 174 |
| 2— | 379 | 59 | 15.6 | 751 | 117 | 368 | 56 | 15.2 | 732 | 111 |
| 3— | 407 | 56 | 13.8 | 828 | 114 | 366 | 47 | 12.8 | 736 | 94 |
| 4— | 388 | 47 | 12.1 | 807 | 98 | 425 | 39 | 9.2 | 888 | 81 |
| g_ | 1,050 | 80 | 7.6 | 465 | 35 | 1,266 | 106 | 8.4 | 555 | 47 |
| 10— | 328 | 7 | 2.1 | 154 | 3 | 419 | 19 | 4.5 | 193 | 9 |
| 15— | 127 | 4 | 3.1 | 59 | 2 | 194 | 2 | 1.0 | 81 | 1 |
| 20— | 91 | 1 | 1.1 | 41 | 0 | 190 | 1 | 0.5 | 71 | 0 |
| 25— | 100 | 2 | 2.0 | 26 | 1 | 199 | 1 | 0.5 | 44 | 0 |
| 35— | 49 | 2 | 41 | 17 | 1 | 85 | 1 | 1.2 | 27 | 0 |
| 45— | 14 | — | — | 7 | — | 25 | — | — | 11 | — |
| 55 and upwards | 7 | 1 | 14.3 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 7.1 | 5 | 0 |
Whooping-cough.
The deaths from whooping-cough in the Administrative County of London in the year 1904
(52 weeks) numbered 1,495 compared with 1,627 in 1903.
The death-rates from this disease in 1904 and preceding periods have been as follows—
| Period. | Death rate per 1,000 persons living. | Period. | Death rate per 1,000 persons living. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1841-50 | 0.87 | 1891-1900 | 0.502 |
| 1851-60 | 0.88 | 1901 | 0.352 |
| 1861-70 | 0.88 | 1902 | 0.402 |
| 1871-80 | 0.81 | 1903 | 0.352 |
| 1881-90 | 0.69 | 1904 | 0.323 |
The death-rate in each year in relation to the mean death-rate of the period 1841-1904 is shown
in diagram XII. The death-rate is calculated upon the population at all ages, but, as a matter of fact,
comparatively few of the deaths occur amongst persons above five years of age, the greatest incidence
of whooping-cough mortality being upon the first year of life. It may be stated that although the
decrease in the birth-rate has contributed to the relative reduction of the infantile population, this is
insufficient to account for the fall in the whooping-cough death-rate which the diagram shows.
It will be seen from the following table that the London whooping-cough death-rate was in the
decennium 1894-1903 exceeded by the death-rates of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, 3 West Ham,
Salford and Newcastle, and in the year 1904 was exceeded by the death-rates of all the undermentioned
large English towns except Bradford and Hull
1 See footnote (2) page 28.
2 See footnote (1) page 7.