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 1906
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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each successive period except in the tenth month. The greatest risk of dying from diarrhoea appears
to be in the third and fourth months of life, and of bronchitis in the second month of life. If this be
so, increase of births some 3-4 months before the diarrhoea period and 1-2 months before the period
when respiratory diseases are prevalent would affect the figures of mortality. For further consideration
of this question a record of dates of birth instead of registra ion is needed.
Any correction necessary for this purpose would not, however, materially alter the fact that the
number of deaths from diarrhoeal diseases progressively increases from the first month of life until the
fourth month of life is reached, and then progressively declines in each succeeding month. This must
be due more to the variation in resistance than to difference in exposure to infective agencies. It is
notorious that infants fed on cow's milk are more liable to death than infants which are breast fed, but,
as Dr. Howarth, of Derby, has shown, this liability manifests itself in death from a variety of causcs,
and the suggestion, therefore, is that it is related to diminished power of resistance, as the result of
unnatural feeding.
How far a diminished power of resistance is caused by increase of temperature must as yet be
mere matter of speculation, but it is interesting to note that the London figures of the last twentytwo
years show that taking the average result over the whole period an increase or decrease of 1 per
cent. in the mean temperature of the summer quarter is attended by an increase or decrease of some
6 per cent. in infant mortality. This will be seen from the following figures, but it is obviously impossible
to say how much diminished resistance and how much increase of infective agency may have
contributed to this result.
| Year. | Deaths under 1 year of ago per 1,000 births. | Mean temperature. Deg. F. | Mean = 100. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deaths under 1 year of age per 1,000 births. | Mean temperature. | |||
| 1885 | 187 | 59.1 | 93 | 97 |
| 1886 | 220 | 61.2 | 110 | 101 |
| 1887 | 230 | 61.0 | 115 | 101 |
| 1888 | 169 | 57.6 | 85 | 95 |
| 1889 | 183 | 58.9 | 91 | 97 |
| 1890 | 195 | 59.4 | 97 | 98 |
| 1891 | 183 | 59.3 | 91 | 98 |
| 1892 | 170 | 59.2 | 85 | 98 |
| 1893 | 207 | 61.9 | 103 | 102 |
| 1894 | 163 | 58.6 | 82 | 97 |
| 1895 | 220 | 62.3 | 110 | 103 |
| 1896 | 228 | 60.4 | 114 | 99 |
| 1897 | 242 | 60.9 | 121 | 100 |
| 1898 | 259 | 62.7 | 129 | 103 |
| 1899 | 277 | 63.0 | 138 | 104 |
| 1900 | 219 | 61.8 | 109 | 102 |
| 1901 | 203 | 61.7 | 101 | 102 |
| 1902 | 149 | 59.1 | 75 | 97 |
| 1903 | 139 | 59.8 | 69 | 99 |
| 1904 | 208 | 61.2 | 104 | 101 |
| 1905 | 171 | 61.8 | 85 | 102 |
| 1906 | 187 | 63.3 | 93 | 104 |
| Mean 1885 1906 | 2004 | 60.65 | 100 | 100 |
The following Life Table, which is based upon the figures shown in the table on page 14, shows
the probability of living for one month at each month of the first year of life and the number of survivors
at the beginning of each of the first twelve months of life out of 100,000 born. The figures
shown in the last column are taken from a similar table published in my last annual report, and will
enable comparison to be made between the two years 1906 and 1905 in this respect:—