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The trend of maternal mortality in London since 1901 is shown in Table 4 (page 220):
it fell slowly and somewhat irregularly—with an upswing during the first world war—
until the introduction of sulphonamides in the middle of the '30's; from then on
puerperal sepsis has dwindled rapidly away but the fall in ' other causes ' was interrupted
by the second world war. The course of maternal mortality since 1934 for both London
and England and Wales is shown by the following diagram, which illustrates clearly
the effect of war conditions in arresting temporarily the decline in maternal mortality
in London. The sharp rise in London in 1941 was not shared by the country as a whole,
and this can be attributed to the effect of the air bombardment, which reached its peak
intensity in that year, and the subsequent evacuation.
MATERNAL MORTALITY (EXCLUDING ABORTION)
MORTALITY PER 1,000 TOTAL BIRTHS
Puerperal
pyrexia
The notification rate of puerperal pyrexia in 1954 was 37.52 per 1,000 total births
(1,938 cases) compared with 32.9 in 1953, 35.4 in 1952, 17.0 in 1951 and 6.8 in
1950.
This large increase in notifications since 1950 is misleading and is due to the Puerperal
Pyrexia Regulations of 1951 which altered the definition of puerperal pyrexia and
required the inclusion of cases notified in the hospitals—the revised definition accounting
for the major portion of the apparent increase.
Respiratory
diseases other
than
bronchitis and
pneumonia
Road
accidents
The rate for ' other respiratory diseases' was distorted in 1940 by the revision of
causes of death, but thereafter declined fairly steadily until 1951, remaining stable at
0.12 per 1,000 until 1954, when it fell to 0.10.
The number of London residents who died in motor vehicle accidents in 1954 was
269 compared with 247 in 1953 and 221 in 1952. In addition there were five deaths
from other road accidents. 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 1954—250, for 1953—233, and for 1952—205. As is clear from these figures, some
London residents come by their death in motor vehicle accidents outside the confines
of the County. Although the number of fatal road accidents in London is still going up,
it is not rising proportionately to the number of vehicles currently licensed in the
County, i.e., the fatal accident rate per vehicle is going down, albeit too slowly.
Violence
Other violent causes of death accounted for 1,201 deaths. The corresponding figure
for 1953 was 1,190.
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