London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

London County Council 1949

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

This page requires JavaScript

23
and for the present at least they may be regarded as having fallen below even the
level to which they might have declined if the pre-war trend had not been interrupted.

Civilian death-rates per 1,000 living in 1949 in London and for the whole country

were:—

PulmonaryNon-pulmonary
London0.4700.046
England and Wales0.4030.054

TUBERCULOSIS
MORTALITY & MORBIDITY 1921-1949
ANNUAL DEATHS PER 1,000 LIVING
ANNUAL NOTIFICATIONS PER 1,000 LIVING
With regard to morbidity the rate of occurrence of new cases of pulmonary
tuberculosis rose by nearly 50 per cent. between 1938 and 1941, and remained at the
higher level until the end of the war, when it began to decline, at first quite rapidly.
However, the rate since 1946 has risen very slightly and it appears that the decline
has temporarily ceased. The morbidity level for pulmonary cases is at present
30 per cent. higher than it was immediately before the war. It must, however, be
remembered that morbidity rates are related to the zeal with which new cases are