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 1934
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
14
A discussion on the relative mortality of children in England and Wales and in
London during the period 1841-1920 will be found in the Annual Report of the Council
for 1923, (Vol. III, pp. 95-97), where, also, comparison is made of the mortality from
various diseases in the two areas at school ages. It was shown that the rates for
London among children under 15 years of age were up to that time generally in
excess of those for England and Wales.
The death-rates from all causes and from certain specified causes in each metropolitan
borough in 1934 and in London as a whole in 1934 and earlier years will be
found in the tables on pages 29 and 31.
Infant
mortality.
The deaths under one year of age per thousand births were 67 as compared with
60 in the preceding year.
The lowest infant mortality recorded in London was that in 1930, and a comparison of the 1934 figure therewith shows that the excess in the latter year is chiefly due to increased mortality from pneumonia and diarrhoea, as will be seen from the following table:—
| Cause of death. | 1911 to 1914 | 1915 to 1918. | 1919 to 1922. | 1923 to 1926 | 1927 to 1930. | 1931 to 1934. | 1930. | 1931. | 1932. | 1933. | 1934. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measles | 3.40 | 3.84 | 1.64 | 2.02 | 2.07 | 1.44 | 3.12 | 0.44 | 2.44 | 0.28 | 2.60 |
| Whooping-cough | 3.63 | 4.45 | 2.50 | 2.60 | 3.14 | 2.27 | 0.89 | 2.15 | 2.59 | 2.45 | 1.88 |
| Influenza | 0.27 | 1.10 | 0.81 | 0.38 | 0.48 | 0.40 | 0.26 | 0.46 | 0.39 | 0.46 | 0.30 |
| Tuberculosis | 3.40 | 3.20 | 1.52 | 1.26 | 0.89 | 0.77 | 0.79 | 0.70 | 0.96 | 0.83 | 0.60 |
| Bronchitis | 6.41 | 6.72 | 4.42 | 2.91 | 2.30 | 2.16 | 1.66 | 2.56 | 2.09 | 1.50 | 2.48 |
| Pneumonia | 12.28 | 14.96 | 12.60 | 11.51 | 12.10 | 11.45 | 9.85 | 13.90 | 10.25 | 8.27 | 13.40 |
| Diarrhoea | 24.28 | 16.10 | 12.16 | 9.36 | 8.87 | 10.86 | 9.07 | 8.94 | 11.78 | 10.70 | 12.01 |
| Premature birth | 18 16 | 17.42 | 17.00 | 14.74 | 14.17 | 14.91 | 13.71 | 15.24 | 14.51 | 15.23 | 14.65 |
| Congenital defects | 14.69 | 14.66 | 11.26 | 8.39 | 7.38 | 7.22 | 7.11 | 6.65 | 7.58 | 6.84 | 7.81 |
| Other causes | 21.48 | 20.55 | 15.09 | 11.83 | 12.60 | 13.52 | 12.54 | 13.96 | 14.41 | 130.44 | 11.27 |
| All causes | 108 | 103 | 79 | 65 | 64 | 65 | 59 | 65 | 67 | 60 | 67 |
The quarterly infant mortality-rate for the years 1930 and 1934 compare as follows:
| Year. | Quarter. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st. | 2nd. | 3rd. | 4 th. | |
| 1930 | 78 | 55 | 44 | 60 |
| 1934 | 94 | 61 | 48 | 65 |
The winter of 1933-4 was less favourable to infant life, and this accounts for the
increase in the mortality from pneumonia referred to above. The increase in the
third quarter reflects the effects of the warm summer of 1934 and the consequent
increase in infant diarrhoea.
The death-rates from various causes shown above are stated in the following table as a proportion of the deaths from all causes in each of six successive four-yearly periods:—
| Cause of death. | 1911 to 1914. | 1915 to 1918. | 1919 to 1922. | 1923 to 1926. | 1927 to 1930. | 1931 to 1934. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measles | 3.1 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 2.2 |
| Whooping-cough | 3.4 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 3.5 |
| Influenza | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| Tuberculosis | 3.1 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Bronchitis | 6.0 | 6.5 | 5.6 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| Pneumonia | 11.3 | 14.5 | 15.9 | 17.7 | 18.9 | 17.6 |
| Diarrhœa | 22.5 | 15.6 | 15.4 | 14.4 | 13.9 | 16.7 |
| Premature birth | 16.8 | 16.9 | 21.5 | 22.7 | 22.1 | 23.0 |
| Congenital defects | 13.6 | 14.3 | 14.3 | 12.9 | 11.5 | 11.1 |
| Other causes | 19.9 | 20.0 | 19.1 | 18.2 | 19.7 | 20.8 |
| All causes | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |