London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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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]
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Maternal mortality—
Table (xv)—
| Year | Live births and stillbirths | Deaths in pregnancy or childbirth excluding abortion | Postabortion deaths | Total maternal deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Rate per 1,000 total births | ||||
| 1951 | 53,460 | 24 | 18 | 42 | 0.79 |
| 1952 | 52,433 | 35 | 15 | 50 | 0.95 |
| 1953 | 52,080 | 21 | 16 | 37 | 0.71 |
| 1954 | 51,774 | 28 | 6 | 34 | 0.66 |
| 1955 | 50,860 | 31 | 8 | 39 | 0.77 |
| 1956 | 53,241 | 16 | 11 | 27 | 0.51 |
| 1957 | 53,816 | 15 | 13 | 28 | 0.52 |
| 1958 | 55,254 | 14 | 19 | 33 | 0.60 |
| 1959 | 56,276 | 22 | 12 | 34 | 0.60 |
| i960* | 58,420 | 15 | 11 | 26 | 0.45 |
* For the fifth year running none of the deaths in pregnancy or childbirth was due to sepsis; nine of the 11
post.abortion deaths came under the category of 'abortion with sepsis
Summary tables—Tables summarising the more important of these vital statistics (a) by
metropolitan boroughs and (b) showing the secular trend for the county are to be found on
pages 23 and 24.
Air pollution
There were no particular foggy incidents in 1960. Comparisons are now available for
the past seven winters of the average levels of pollution based on the seven recording
stations described in appendix B to my report for 1956.
| Winter | ' Smoke' (b) | ' Sulphur dioxide' (c) | Ratio smoke ISO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954.1955 | 49 | 111 | 4.41 |
| 1955.1956 | 52 | 11.8 | 4.40 |
| 1956.1957 | 45 | 10.2 | 4.41 |
| 1957.1958 | 41 | 11.5 | 3.57 |
| 1958.1959 | 43 | 11.9 | 3.61 |
| 1959.960 | 32 | 9.6 | 3.33 |
| 1960.961 | 24 | 9.7 | 2.45 |
(a) Average daily readings of seven volumetric recording stations.
(b) Milligrams of black suspended matter per 100 cubic metres of air.
(c) Acidic gases in parts per 100 million parts of air.
It will be seen that whereas there has been a downward trend in ' smoke ' since 1955.56
there has been less change in ' sulphur dioxide In a paper† read to the Clean Air Conference
(1960) the reduction in smoke in London is reported as due mainly to a big drop
in domestic coal consumption: the decrease in smoke emission in London has been much
greater than elsewhere in the country. This has not been matched by a corresponding
reduction in sulphur dioxide because ' the fall in the emission of sulphur dioxide from the
domestic burning of coal is more than offset by the low.level emissions from the sharply
increasing use of fuel oil in industry '.
t Trends in the pollution of the air of Great Britain by smoke and sulphur dioxide, 1952.59 (Carroll et al),
Clean Air Conference, October, 1960.
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