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13
CAUSES OF DEATH.
The question of more accurate information being obtained as to the
cause of death has come under discussion from time to time. There is
no doubt that in some cases, in order to spare the feelings of relatives,
medical attendants in the past have stated on death certificates the terminal
result which caused the death instead of assigning it to the primary
and original cause. In this way, for instance, the statistics of syphilis
and alcoholism have been unreliable. Under the terms of the Births
and Deaths Registration Act, 1926, however, death certificates must be
sent by the medical practitioner direct to the Registrar, instead of being
given to a relation : thus the desire of the practitioner not to harrow the
feelings of relatives of deceased persons by handing to them the medical
certificate stating the cause of death, will in future be overcome, and it
is to be hoped that more reliable information will be obtained.
The incidence of the chief causes of mortality in Hampstead
shows very plainly in a tabular list of the seven principal death-causing
diseases in 1927:—
Cancer 160
Heart disease 157
Respiratory disease 127
Arterio-sclerosis 74
Cerebral hæmorrhage, &c. 55
Influenza 50
Tuberculosis 45
The following diseases and causes of death call for special
mention :—
Maternal Deaths.
Number of women dying in, or in consequence of, child-birth:—
(1) From Sepsis at home - 5
in hospital 2
(2) Other Causes at home 1 5
in hospital
These cases are dealt with in detail in Section 7 of this Report.
Infantile Mortality.
The following table shows the deaths and death rates of legitimate
and illegitimate infants in 1927:—
Legitimate Infants.
No. of births937
„ deaths 45
Death rate per 1000 legitimate births 48