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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The following table shows the proportional age-distribution of the deaths in London classified under the three headings—
| Age-period. | All ages. | Under 35. | 35- | 45- | 55- | 65- | 75- | 85 and upwards. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarcoma | 1,000 | 340 | 142 | 175 | 171 | 120 | 42 | 10 |
| Carcinoma | 1,000 | 29 | 100 | 225 | 296 | 237 | 98 | 15 |
| Cancer | 1,000 | 32 | 87 | 201 | 319 | 242 | 106 | 13 |
In the report for the year 1905, a table was included showing the cancer death-rates in the
period 1901-5 in areas presenting different degrees of overcrowding,1 the object being to compare the
death-rates of population differently circumstanced in respect of social condition.
The following table shows the corresponding death-rates for the period 1901-6:—
| Percentage of overcrowding in each group of sanitary areas. | Crude cancer death-rate per 1,000 persons living. | Standard death-rate.2 | Factor for correction for age and sex distribution. | Corrected death-rate per 1,000 persons living. | Corrected death rate (London, 1,000). |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 7.5 per cent. | 0.926 | 0.883 | 0.99003 | 0.917 | 986 |
| 7.5 to 12.5 per cent. | 0.922 | 0.864 | 1.01180 | 0.933 | 1,003 |
| 12.5 to 20 per cent. | 0.968 | 0.921 | 0.94919 | 0.919 | 988 |
| 20.0 to 27.5 per cent. | 1.006 | 0.904 | 0.96704 | 0.973 | 1,046 |
| Over 27.5 per cent. | 0.809 | 0.774 | 1.12946 | 0.914 | 983 |
Cerebro-spinal Fever.
Only four deaths attributed to cerebro-spinal fever were registered during the year. Of these
one was the death of a n adult aged twenty-four, occurring in March. There was, in addition, the death
of a medical man whose illness was characterised by the appearance of a hæmorrhagic eruption and
whose spinal fluid contained abundance of the meningococci of Weichselbaum.
Anthrax.
There were four deaths due to anthrax registered during the year. One was that of the wife of a
carman, the others were those of three men employed respectively as a horsehair dresser, a skin importer's
warehouseman, and a stevedore who had been engaged in unloading foreign hides. Four other cases
attended by recovery occurred in persons employed in Bermondsey. The first was a man who had been
handling foreign hides; the second a woman the source of whose infection was unknown; the third a
man who had been handling hides, but the hides were tanned; the fourth a man who had been
carting bristles. A further case occurred in Poplar, that of a man who had been employed in carrying
hides in the St. Katharine Docks.
Meteorology.
The tables published in the Annual Summary of the Registrar-General, deduced from observations
at Greenwich under the superintendence of the Astronomer Royal, show that the mean temperature of
the air in 1906 was 50.7 deg. Fahrenheit, or 1.2 deg. Fahrenheit above the average of the preceding 50
years. The rainfall during the year amounted to 24.72 inches, an increase of 0.18 inch on the average
of the preceding 50 years. The temperature and rainfall in each month of the year 1906 are shown
in the following table:—
| Month. | Temperature of the air. | Departure of mean monthly temperature from average of 50 years, 1856-1905. | Sain. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolute maximum. | Absolute minimum. | Mean for month. | Number of days it fell. | Amount collected. | ||
| deg. F. | deg. F. | deg. F. | deg. F. | Inches. | ||
| January | 53.2 | 25.8 | 42.2 | +3.7 | 18 | 3.71 |
| February | 50.7 | 26.1 | 38.9 | —0.6 | 18 | 1.80 |
| March | 65.0 | 27.4 | 42.2 | +0.5 | 18 | 1.09 |
| April | 73.2 | 28.1 | 46.2 | —1.0 | 9 | 0.67 |
| May | 76.2 | 31.6 | 53.4 | +0.3 | 12 | 1.57 |
| June | 82.0 | 37.6 | 58.8 | —0.6 | 7 | 2.80 |
| July | 86.2 | 45.1 | 64.4 | +2.0 | 7 | 0.41 |
| August | 94.3 | 44.1 | 65.7 | +4.1 | 8 | 1.39 |
| September | 93.5 | 37.1 | 59.5 | +2.3 | 11 | 1.97 |
| October | 71.8 | 32.1 | 54.4 | + 4.4 | 17 | 3.04 |
| November | 60.3 | 28.5 | 45.9 | +2.7 | 17 | 4.11 |
| December | 54.3 | 19.8 | 37.2 | —2.5 | 19 | 2.16 |
1 See footnote (1), page 17.
2 See footnote (2), page 49.