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 1960

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

This page requires JavaScript

Text

Copy text to clipboard

a valid comparison can be made by Standardised Mortality Ratios.* The Registrar General
last calculated these for 1950.53 in relation to the census population of 1951. For the
county the male figure for bronchitis was 153 and the female 140, in contradistinction to
the figures for all causes of death of 106 and 97 respectively. There is not the same disproportion
between these male and female ratios as there was between the rates of table (viii),
because these ratios are relating the mortality of London males to all males in England and
Wales; similarly with females. In other words, whereas mortality in general was not markedly
different as between the county and the country, in the case of bronchitis London compares
unfavourably. Although there is known to be an urbanisation gradient in mortality from
bronchitis the striking difference between London and the national figures warrants further
investigation. Accordingly table (x) sets out for the metropolitan boroughs the standardised
mortality ratios for males and females, the percentage in social classes IV and V, the
percentage of the population born in London and two indices of atmospheric pollution.

Table: Table (x)— Bronchitis.Standardised mortality ratio, social class, percentage born in London, and atmospheric pollution.

Table (x)— Bronchitis.

Standardised mortality ratio, social class, percentage born in London, and atmospheric pollution.

BoroughsS.M.R. 1950.53 (England and Wales = 100)Percentage of social classes IVand V 1951Percentage born in London 1951Atmospheric pollution 1944.54
Solid depositSO4
MaleFemale(a)(b)
Chelsea761072345653119
Fulham16015927641,028188
Hammersmith1591643058(c)(c)
Kensington118862339504109
Hampstead84851537(c)(c)
Paddington1321242744413400
St. Marylebone1331022242497114
St. Pancras1501383258516(c)
Westminster, City of89912736779122
Finsbury1901843974503(c)
Holborn1501363045456(c)
Islington1701783170521(c)
Hackney167158267542598
Shoreditch2482093982(c)(c)
Stoke Newington162179226737497
Bethnal Green2002373883(c)(c)
City of London92404347637170
Poplar2051744480982210
Stepney1981454672496119
Deptford1811643575(c)(c)
Greenwich12414432691,300240
Woolwich1101062559593138
Camberwell1931823075378373
Lewisham1341102266432104
Bermondsey1841764584(c)(c)
Lambeth1551452965614107
Southwark23618842762,658188
Battersea16114330701,145127
Wandsworth1351262160(c)(c)
London County1531402963723168

Text

Copy text to clipboard

(a) Total deposited matter, grams per 100 square metres per month, winter months only.
(b) Dissolved sulphate ion (SO4) per 100 square metres per month, winter months only.
(c) No deposit gauge.
* Standardised Mortality Ratios express the actual number of deaths at all ages in each geographical area
as a percentage of the ' expected' number of deaths that would have occurred in the areas if the death rate in
each age group had been the same as that of England and Wales. They are drawn from Table 1A of the
Registrar General's Decennial Supplement—Area Mortality, 1951, H.M.S.O., 1958.
12