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
Marylebone 1921
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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stands sixth, having above her, only such favoured districts as Stoke Newington and
Lewisham and being well ahead of others, such as Hampstead (88), Paddington (92),
Kensington (110) and Westminster (80). The rate for London as a whole was 80.
The course which the rate has taken is graphically shown in the chart on
page 34, which indicates clearly that the only really serious interruption to the
decline was in 1917.
The means adopted in the Borough with a view to bringing about a reduction
in infantile mortality and generally improving the life and health chances of infants
and children are described in a separate section of this report—Maternity and Child
Welfare. This part being merely statistical, it is not proposed at this point to do
more than give some sort of analysis of the figures relating to deaths amongst
infants.
Causes.—A Table (Ministry of Health Table I) will be found on page 33,
in which, in addition to the causes of death, are shown the distribution of the deaths
according to age and locality.
So far as age and causation are concerned, conditions vary little year by year.
In 1921, as in other years, the greatest number of deaths occurred in the early weeks
of life. Of the babies, 52 were less than one month old when they died and 82 less
than three months. The figures for 1920 were 64 and 92.
The outstanding causes of death and the proportions traceable to them were
those usually noted. Prematurity (numbers 12, 13 and 14 in the table), which as
usual heads the list, caused 50 deaths, the same as in 1920. Diarrhcea and enteritis
(7 and 8) accounted for 20 in 1920 and for 19 in 1921. Respiratory diseases, the
third of the main causes, took 26 in 1920, and in 1921, 20.
Amongst the other causes of death, those which call for mention are the
commoner infectious diseases, which together led to 3 deaths among infants, all due
to diphtheria. Three deaths were stated to be due to overlaying, 3 to tuberculosis,
1 to convulsions, and 1 to injury at birth.
In the following table information supplementary to that in the large table is
given with regard to deaths in the various sub-districts.
Christ Church, which always contributes most largely to the infantile as to most of the other mortality rates, being the most thickly populated area and that in which there is most poverty, most overcrowding and most neglect of ordinary precautions, is again at the head of the list with 56 deaths amongst infants. In 1920 the figure was 71.
| Sub District. | Under 1 week. | 1 and under 2 weeks. | 2 and under 3 weeks. | 3 and under 4 weeks. | 4 weeks and under 3 months. | 3 and under 6 months. | 6 and under 9 months. | 9 and under 12 months. | Totals. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Souls | 7 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 1 | I | 6 | 29 |
| St. Mary | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 1 | — | 1 | 21 |
| Christ Church | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 55 |
| St. John | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 23 |
| Totals | 31 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 30 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 128 |