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 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
12
The Increased Mortality from Pulmonary Tuberculosis
amongst Young Women.
The movement in the mortality during the past thirty years for both males and females is shown in the following table, which shows the deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis in London per 100,000 living:—
| Period | 0- | 5- | 10- | 15- | 20- | 25- | 35- | 45- | 55- | 65- | 75- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900-02 | 51 | 15 | 17 | 82 | 172 | 260 | 443 | 519 | 427 | 317 | 131 |
| 1911-13 | 37 | 15 | 17 | 72 | 148 | 208 | 320 | 360 | 364 | 263 | 150 |
| 1920-22 | 16 | 5 | 14 | 84 | 151 | 151 | 210 | 261 | 235 | 168 | 82 |
| 1929-31 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 66 | 119 | 130 | 163 | 226 | 209 | 137 | 74 |
| 1900-02 | 42 | 23 | 32 | 76 | 97 | 150 | 251 | 214 | 166 | 121 | 77 |
| 1911-13 | 32 | 15 | 35 | 81 | 96 | 117 | 159 | 153 | 127 | 113 | 66 |
| 1920-22 | 18 | 9 | 31 | 111 | 131 | 114 | 111 | 96 | 81 | 81 | 53 |
| 1929-31 | 14 | 6 | 19 | 100 | 125 | 98 | 81 | 66 | 54 | 43 | 31 |
| Males | -62 | -60 | -65 | - 8 | -20 | -37 | -49 | -37 | -43 | -48 | -51 |
| Females | -56 | -60 | -46 | + 23 | + 30 | -16 | -49 | -57 | -57 | -62 | -53 |
It will be noted that the female mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis at ages
10-15 is about double that of males throughout, although in both sexes the mortalityrate
has markedly fallen. The increase in mortality in recent years among young
women first becomes apparent after this age-group, but is practically confined to the
age-period 15-25. At first sight the explanation which suggests itself of the
remarkable increase in this age-period is that it is due to change of occupation from
school and domestic work to commercial and industrial employment.
In the annual report for 1926, it was shown that the statistics relating to the
mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis bore out the view that the chief factor is
nutrition. It was also shown that no consideration of the causes influencing
mortality from phthisis could reach conclusive results if it did not take into
account the concurrent death-rate from all other causes. The effect, however, of
taking into account the general death-rate makes no difference to the conclusions
to be drawn from the mortality-rates shown in the preceding table. There has not
only been an actual increase in the mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis among
women aged 15 to 25, but there has also been an increase relatively to all other causes
of death at this age-period which is not shown at other ages.
In the following table the deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis at ages 15 to 25 are stated as a percentage of the deaths at the same ages from all causes, in areas of differing degrees of urbanization:—
| Areas of England and Wales | Males | Females | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1911-13 Per cent. | 1920-22 Per cent. | 1928-30 Per cent. | 1911-13 Per cent. | 1920-22 Per cent. | 1928-30 Per cent. | |
| London | 34.9 | 34.5 | 32.8 | 35.6 | 43.2 | 45.1 |
| County boroughs | 33.4 | 33.2 | 32.3 | 38.7 | 42.5 | 43.4 |
| Urban districts | 29.3 | 29.5 | 27.6 | 37.2 | 40.7 | 41.9 |
| Rural districts | 28.1 | 29.2 | 23.0 | 36.4 | 39.4 | 38.7 |
| England and Wales | 31. 1 | 31.4 | 29.0 | 37.4 | 41.5 | 42.3 |