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12
Pneumonia
and other
respiratory
diseases
Mortality from pneumonia rose sharply in 1940 and remained higher than formerly
until 1943, when it began to fall, reaching in 1945 and 1946 a level lower than the
average of the intermediate and pre-war years. The rate for ' other respiratory diseases'
was distorted in 1940 by the statistical revision of causes of death, but thereafter declined
fairly steadily until 1951 since when it has remained stable at 0.12 per 1,000. What had
seemed to be a steady decline in the mortality rate from pneumonia, doubtless associated
with antibiotic therapy, has, since 1946, turned into a biennial rise and fall with peaks in
1947, 1949, 1951 and 1953 associated with influenza epidemics.
Road
accidents
The number or London residents who died in motor vehicle accidents in 1953 was
247, as compared with 221 in 1952 and 282 in 1951. The number of persons who were
registered in London in those years as dying in motor vehicle accidents, whether London
residents or not, were—for 1953—233, for 1952—205 and for 1951—259. Many London
residents come by their death in motor vehicle accidents outside the confines of the
County. The current rate of slaughter on the roads within the County remains about the
same as it was between 1870 and 1890, having declined substantially from the peak of
822 deaths which it reached in 1930. While the toll is still a matter for grave concern, it
is nevertheless some small satisfaction that the rate has remained of the same order in the
face of a continuous increase in the number of road vehicles currently licensed : it is
impossible to assess whether the fall in the fatal accident rate per vehicle is due to road
safety campaigns, better highway maintenance or improvements in treatment, but the
first and last of these factors are probably the more important.
Other
violence
Other violent causes of death accounted for 1,190 deaths. The corresponding figure
for 1952 was 1,142. The peaks in the diagram on page 11 are due to the heavy toll of
air raids.
Infant
mortality
The infant mortality in 1953 was 23.9 per 1,000 live births which compares with
rates of 23.1 in 1952 and 25.4 in 1951. The movements of the death rates from the
principal diseases at ages below one year since the years 1931-35 are shown in Table 7
(page 150). The diagram on page 13 illustrates these movements.
The increase in deaths assigned to congenital malformations and injury at birth
between 1936-40 and 1941-45 is partly attributable to changes in classification following
the adoption of the fifth revision of the International Causes of Death in 1938, and
partly, perhaps, to increased numbers of post-mortem examinations with resultant
precision of certification. Under all the other headings given in the table there has been a
pronounced improvement in mortality rates although in 1953 there was an increase over
1952 due in part to an influenza epidemic in the first quarter of the year and a carry over
into the early part of the year of the effect of the smog of 1952 on the death rates from
diarrhoea and enteritis.
Neo-natal
mortality

There is some irregularity in the decline in both sets of rates and the margin between
them has varied in extent. In London there was a wartime increase but this setback was
soon recovered. The reduction in infant mortality is a result of many factors and they
have mainly been effective against the causes of death (principally infectious, diarrhoeal or
respiratory), which do not operate until after the first few weeks of life. Deaths within