London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
113
Report of the County Medical Officer—General.
Hence it will be seen that among males the loss in years of life caused by the mortality from
measles is greater than that due to cancer, although the death-rate from cancer has been shown to be
more than three times greater than that from measles; similarly the mortality from pneumonia causes
greater loss than the somewhat more numerous deaths from phthisis. The loss from phthisis, which
appears from the death-rate for both sexes taken together to be nearly four times as great as the loss
from all other tubercular diseases, is, in terms of years of lifetime lost only about twice as great.
spondingly large increase in the expectation of life. The figures for the two tables are shown below and there are appended to them for the purpose of further comparison the approximate increase in expectation in 1891-1900 over the period 1881-1890.
| Age. | Males. | Females. | Corresponding increase 1881-80 to 1891-1900. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1891-1900. | 1901-1910 | Increase. | 1891-1900. | 1901-1910. | Increase. | Males. | Females. | |
| 0 | 40.98 | 46.74 | 5.76 | 45.33 | 51.41 | 6.08 | 1.13 | 1.15 |
| 5 | 51.60 | 54.82 | 3.22 | 55.12 | 58.63 | 3.51 | 1.25 | 1.16 |
| 10 | 47.84 | 50.73 | 2.89 | 51.49 | 54.61 | 3.12 | 1.05 | 1.01 |
| 15 | 43.40 | 46.21 | 2.81 | 47.10 | 50.14 | 3.04 | 0.96 | 0.92 |
| 20 | 39.13 | 41.84 | 2.71 | 42.77 | 45.72 | 2.95 | 0.87 | 0.80 |
| 25 | 34.96 | 37.59 | 2.63 | 38.46 | 41.32 | 2.86 | 0.72 | 0.61 |
| 35 | 27.25 | 29.50 | 2.25 | 30.42 | 32.87 | 2.45 | 0.36 | 0. 25 |
| 45 | 20.65 | 22.31 | 1.66 | 23.29 | 25.21 | 1.92 | 0.21 | 0.07 |
| 55 | 14.76 | 15.98 | 1.22 | 16.72 | 18.19 | 1.47 | 0.12 | 0.05 |
| 65 | 9.76 | 10.56 | 0.80 | 11.01 | 12.03 | 1.02 | 0.05 | 0.07 |
| 75 | 5.91 | 6.35 | 0.44 | 6.57 | 7.17 | 0.60 | 0.07 | 0.02 |
The expectation shown here for London may be compared with the similar figures for Salford,
which are given for both decennia on page 118. It will be observed that the marked increase shown in
London is also equally evident in the Salford figures.
The values of the London expectations for both sexes at all ages of life are shown in diagram
facing this page.
data for the period 1891-1900 given. For the purpose of the similar calculations for the present life-table the expectation of life of quinquennial or decennial age-groups of the population are required and these are found to be as follows :—
| Age-groups. | Males. | Females. |
|---|---|---|
| Years. | Years. | |
| 0— | 54.43 | 58.24 |
| 5— | 52.88 | 56.72 |
| 10— | 48.47 | 52.38 |
| 15— | 44.02 | 47.93 |
| 20— | 39.72 | 43.52 |
| 25— | 33.52 | 37.06 |
| 35— | 25.90 | 29.04 |
| 45— | 19.18 | 21.72 |
| 55— | 13.34 | 15.16 |
| 65— | 8.60 | 9.70 |
| 75— | 5.15 | 5.74 |
| 85 + | 2.93 | 3.22 |
The application of these values to the intercensal population of each age-group gives the years of future life-time, the total of these figures being the required life-capital of the whole population:—
| Age-groups. | Males. | Females. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population. | Life-capital. | Population. | Life-capital. | |
| 0— | 242,520 | 13,200,342 | 241,442 | 14,061,565 |
| 5— | 218,100 | 11,533,102 | 220,057 | 12,481,627 |
| 10— | 204,449 | 9,909,653 | 208,395 | 10,915,704 |
| 15— | 203,900 | 8,975,696 | 226,009 | 10,832,607 |
| 20— | 209,349 | 8,315,346 | 254,078 | 11,057,466 |
| 25— | 372,963 | 12,501,733 | 441,447 | 16,360,026 |
| 35— | 290,755 | 7,530,565 | 324,593 | 9,426,195 |
| 45— | 206,494 | 3,960,551 | 231,639 | 5,031,201 |
| 55— | 127,296 | 1,698,122 | 149,760 | 2,270,354 |
| 65— | 61,789 | 531,386 | 85,594 | 830,265 |
| 75— | 18,312 | 94,307 | 32,173 | 184,674 |
| 85 + | 1,989 | 5,829 | 4,749 | 15,293 |
| All ages | 2,157,916 | 78,256,632 | 2,419,936 | 93,466,977 |
18820
p