Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Age.period. | 0. | 5. | 10. | 15. | 20. | 25. | 35. | 45. | 55. | 65. | 75. | 85 and upwards | A11 ages. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stoke Newington | —— | — | - | — | 2 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 31 | ||
Hackney | — | - | — | 1 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 26 | 26 | 5 | - | 86 | |
Holborn | - | — | 6 | 5 | 3 | 14 | |||||||
Finsbury | - | — | - | - | - | 1 | - | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 | - | 28 |
London, City of | • | — | — | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
Shoreditch | — | — | - | - | - | 6 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 46 | |
Bethnal Green | — | •— | - | 1 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 14 | 5 | -- | 50 | ||
Stepney | - | —— | — | - | 3 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 81 | |
mk Wr Poplar | — | - | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 3 | - | 30 | |
Southwark | - | - | 1 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 5 | - | 50 | |||
Bermondsey | - | — | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 1 | - | 21 | |||
Lambeth | — | - | - | - | - | 7 | 21 | 27 | 21 | 13 | 1 | 90 | |
Battersea | — | - | - | 1 | 4 | 16 | 18 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 66 | ||
Wandsworth | — | - | — | 4 | 9 | 25 | 33 | 37 | 16 | - | 124 | ||
Camberwell | - | 1 | — | - | 2 | 10 | 13 | 40 | 24 | 12 | 5 | 107 | |
Deptford | - | — | - | - | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | - | 20 | |
Greenwich | - | .— | — | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 25 | |
Lewisham | - | — | — | - | - | 2 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 6 | - | 37 | |
Woolwich | - | — | — | — | - | 7 | 7 | 15 | 14 | 5 | - | 48 | |
London | - | 1 | - | 1 | 4 | 31 | 141 | 319 | 486 | 434 | 163 | 18 | 1598 |
The following table shows the proportional age.distribution of the deaths in London during
1907 (365 days) classified under the three headings—
Cancer—.Deaths1 at each age.period per 1,000 deaths at All Ages—1907 (365 days).
Age.period. | All ages. | Under 35. | 35. | 45. | 55. | 65. | 75. | 85 and upwards. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sarcoma | 1,000 | 366 | 130 | 145 | 172 | 127 | 60 | |
Carcinoma | 1,000 | 26 | 100 | 222 | 290 | 248 | 98 | 16 |
Cancer | 1,000 | 23 | 88 | 200 | 304 | 272 | 102 | 11 |
Total | 1,000 | 46 | 97 | 210 | 288 | 249 | 97 | 13 |
In the report for the year 1906, a table was included showing the cancer death.rates in the
period 1901.6 in areas presenting different degrees of overcrowding,2 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 1901.7:—
London, 1901.7.
Cancer death.rates1 in relation to overcrowding.
Percentage of overcrowding in each group of sanitary areas. | Crude cancer death.rate per 1,000 persons living. | Standard death. rate.1 | 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. | 0.930 | 0.883 | 0.99003 | 0.921 | 988 |
7.5 to 12.5 per cent. | 0.923 | 0.864 | 1.01180 | 0.934 | 1,002 |
12.5 to 20 per cent. | 0.975 | 0.921 | 094919 | 0.925 | 992 |
20. to 27.5 per cent. | 0.999 | 0.904 | 0.96704 | 0.966 | 1,036 |
Over 27.5 per cent. | 0.810 | 0.774 | 1.12946 | 0.915 | 982 |
London | 0.932 | 0.874 | 1 .00000 | 0.932 | 1,000 |
The figures shown in the table appear to indicate that there is no relation between cancer mortality
and social condition, as judged by overcrowding, and in this respect the behaviour of cancer
differs altogether from that of phthisis (see page 49).
Dr. G. B. Longstaff has raised question whether the difference between the two sexes in the
frequency with which cancer attacks the throat may be due to differences in the habit of the two sexes
in respect to smoking, the male being more frequently attacked in that locality than the female. Dr.
Bashford has stated in a recent report of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund that cancer of the skin
of the abdomen is practically unknown in Europe, but is frequent in Kashmir, and that the natives of
Kashmir irritate the abdominal wall by wearing a charcoal oven round the waist. Again, in Europe,
he states, cancer of the floor of the mouth is rare in women. In Ceylon and India women suffer from
cancer of the side of the mouth, and this is due to the fact that women chew betel nut and sleep with
the plug in the cheek at the exact spot where cancer starts.
See footnote (1). page 8.
2 See footnote (1), page 19.
3 See footnote (1), page 47