View report page

2
The general death-rate at 12.6 is appreciably higher than the previous year
(11.3), probably due to the influenza epidemic, concerning which a note appears on
page 19 ; and to the increasing number of deaths from cancer, heart disease, and
respiratory diseases due to the gradual ageing of the population (page 8). Deaths
from motor vehicle accidents amounted to 282, an increase of 37 compared with 1950
(page 13); each year there are more deaths from this cause than from poliomyelitis.
The infant mortality rate was again lower at 25.4 per 1,000 live births (25.8 in 1950).
The neo-natal rate (deaths in the first four weeks of life) rose from 16.9 to 17.3 per
1,000 live births, but the 1950 figure was the lowest on record in London ; the average
for the past ten years was 20.4 (page 13).
A note on the relative importance of school, home and other forms of contact
in the spread of whooping cough appears on page 24.
The attendances of children at the welfare centres during the first year of life
was higher than in 1950, but the total attendances were lower; 82 per cent. of children
attended a centre during their first year of life, compared with 79 per cent. in 1950
(page 50). First attendances at ante-natal clinics amounted to 45 per cent. of all
women requiring such care during the year, compared with 50 per cent. in 1950;
an increasing number of mothers receive ante-natal care from hospitals, or from
their family doctors (page 50).
A report is given on page 53 of the 296 premature babies who were born at home,
and it is satisfactory to note that 272 of the 296 made satisfactory progress.
There was a continuation of the fall in the number of domiciliary confinements,
due in part to the fall in the birth-rate, but mainly to the larger number of maternity
beds now available in hospitals (page 60).
The demand on the home help service continued, 26,542 families being assisted,
compared with 25,805 the previous year (page 68).
There has been a steady decline since 1949 in the number of children receiving
primary immunisation against diphtheria, probably due in part to the publicity
given to reports of cases of paralysis following inoculation in 1949 and partly to the
low incidence of diphtheria (page 68). The risk of an attack of paralysis following an
immunising injection against diphtheria is slight. The risk of a recrudescence of
diphtheria, which is both a killing and crippling disease, should there be any substantial
falling off in the number of children immunised, is a real one. The relationship
between immunisation and infantile paralysis is being closely studied and new
immunising agents are being tested. In the meantime, it may prove to be desirable
to concentrate immunisation work, in the years when poliomyelitis is prevalent,
into the late autumn, winter and spring months.
The number of vaccinations and re-vaccinations again showed a welcome increase
(page 70).
The demand on the ambulance service, both for accidents and for general work
again increased, as it has done in every year since 1948 (page 71).
The work of the school health service is reflected in the increased number of
medical inspections, 418,558 compared with 409,120 in 1950 (page 90).
Deaths
I regret to record the deaths on 17th January, 1951, of Mr. P. Gerrard, a
principal clerk, and on 21st December, 1951, of Mr. F. D. Manners, L.D.S., R.C.S.,
the assistant chief dental officer.
Facts and figures from the census
Publication of the one per cent. sample tables of the results of the 1951 census
provides an opportunity to review the facts and figures that form the bases of so many
of the rates and indices which appear in the annual report of a Medical Officer of
Health. It is twenty years since there was a stocktaking of the people and their
manifold social characteristics ; twenty turbulent years of social history and national
upheaval in a world war.