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Notification.—The total number of notifications received during the year,
under the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, Section 255, was 3,177; five births,
3,030; stillbirths, 147. The total notifications in 1938 was 3,980. The main
sources of the notifications are set out below. In some cases duplicate notifications,
from different sources, were received with regard to the same birth.
From parents 4
„ doctors 43
„ midwives 139
„ hospitals, nursing homes, etc. 2,991
3,177
Of the total births notified, 1,824 took place at Queen Charlotte's Hospital;
400 at Middlesex Hospital; 174 at Paddington Hospital; and 240 were born at
home. Of those notified as having occurred in St. Marylebone, 2,087 belonged
to other Boroughs. Of the 147 stillbirths (73 males and 74 females) notified direct
to the Department, 21 (10 males and 11 females) were to St. Marylebone mothers.
In addition, information from other sources received through the Registrar-General
brought the total number of stillbirths allocated to St. Marylebone to 32 (19 males
and 13 females).
DEATHS.
Registration.—The number of deaths registered in 1939 was 1,046. This
figure is inclusive of persons who, though normally resident in the Borough, died in
institutions outside, but exclusive of persons who, though they died in St. Marylebone,
were ordinarily resident in other parts of England or Wales. Deaths of persons
ordinarily resident outside the borders of England and Wales are included in the
St. Marylebone figures if they occur in the Borough.
The corrected death-rate* per thousand for the year was 12.62.
In the previous year, the rate was 11.0 and the number of deaths 1,008.
Table 5 shows the death-rates in the several registration sub-districts in 1939,
and compares them with those of the preceding five years.
*By a "corrected death-rate" is meant one which has been treated in such a way, raised or
lowered in a certain ratio, as to be comparable with the death rates similarly treated of other
districts. That "correction" is necessary is due to the fact that differences in death-rates in
various areas are not entirely dependont upon the sanitary conditions existing in these areas, but
also on the constitution (age and sex) of the population. A population consisting of aged persons
would show more deaths than one consisting entirely of young and vigorous adults ; a population
made up of a large number of males and a small number of females has more deaths and a higher
death-rate than one in which the females outnumber the males. The death-rates of such populations
are not comparable the one with the other nor with those of populations differently constituted.
To overcome this difficulty the Registrar-General issues a "factor for correction " for
each district which represents the number of times which the actual death-rate of each must be
raised in order to permit of its examination side by side with the rates of other districts. The
"factor for correction " in the case of St. Marylebone in 1939 is 0.99, and the corrected deathrate
is obtained by multiplying with this figure the number of deaths per 1,000, calculated from
the total deaths and the estimated average population for the year.