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48
figures were 63.5 and 56.8 respectively. With the advance in
age the difference becomes less. In the 241 urban areas the
average mortality rate at ages 3-6 months was 22.9, and in Acton
it was 21.5. When the age of 6 months is reached, Acton ceases
to occupy a favourable position. In the 241 urban areas the
average mortality rate at ages 6.12 was 34.2, and in Acton it
was 36.8.
Of the iot large towns with a population of over 50,000,
19 only have a lower mortality rate under 1 week after birth, and
under 1 month after birth only 17 have a lower rate. Under
3 months after birth Acton occupies 26th place; in the age period
3-6 months it has gone down to the 44th place, and in the age
period 6-12 months the position it occupies is the 46th place.
An examination of the varying incidence of deaths from
different causes in infancy reveals differences which at present are
inexplicable, but as far as Acton is concerned the figures bear
out the opinion expressed in many Annual Reports, that under
present social conditions the employment of married women in
laundries does not produce an excessive mortality from those
causes attributable to ante-natal conditions. The majority of the
deaths ascribed to premature births and congenital defects are
probably attributable to ante-natal conditions; but many also to
lack of care at and after birth. The average mortality rate for the
241 urban areas from premature births and congenital defects was
25.8 per 1,000 births; in Acton the mortality from these two
causes was 23.1, or 10 per cent, below the average for these
towns.
Prematurity, Congenital Defects, Injury at Birth, Want of
Breast Milk, and Atrophy, Debility and Marasmus are grouped
together under the name of Group of Five. The average rate of
mortality from these 5 grouped diseases in the 241 urban areas
was 44.6, and in Acton it was 41.6, or 7 per cent, below. But
the mortality from want of Breast Milk was higher than Acton
in only 5 urban areas. Want of Breast Milk was responsible for
a mortality of 3.8 per 1,000 in Acton. The towns with a higher
mortality were Birkenhead with 4.0, Stalybridge 4.8, Leeds 5,
Shipley 5.7, and Todmorden with 8.7.