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cause of death was myocarditis these deaths are included under
Heart Disease. There were only 19 deaths from old age, and all
these were certified by about 5 doctors. In one institution, two
only of the doctors ever give a certificate that the death is due to
old age the others state that the immediate cause of death is either
Myocarditis, or Bronchitis or some illness which particularly affect
old people. Similarly only about 3 doctors in the district sign a
certificate that the death was due to old age.
Apart from the changing age-incidence of the population
there is no indication that heart disease is becoming more frequent.
The increase is due to a change in the prevailing views of the certifying
doctors, upon whose certificates the statistical structure rests.
One of the most important factors in the increased number
of deaths from such diseases as Heart disease and Cancer has been
the altered age incidence of the population, which has been in the
direction of increasing the proportions in our population of those
groups in which the incidence of these diseases is highest. The
average age of the population and of those who die is considerably
higher than it was 20 or 30 years ago and consequently the risk of
succumbing to these diseases is much greater. Cancer is essentially
a disease which occurs in late middle life and old age. Of
the 111 deaths from Cancer which occurred in Acton last year, 60
were in people over 65 years of age. Approximately about onehalf
of the deaths from Cancer are in people over 65 years of age.
It will thus be obvious how the age incidence of the population
affects the prevalence of Cancer.
These factors, of course, are not sufficient to account for
the increased incidence of all diseases. To anyone acquainted with
vital statistics, it is known that whilst the incidence of some diseases
is apparently stationary that of others varies considerably. Some
diseases attack and kill at very nearly the same rates year after
year and the slight differences which are discernable can be accounted
for satisfactorily; others, and this includes the common
endemic infections very in more or less rhythmical cycles. Last
year was a non-epidemic year of Measles, and only 1 death occurred.
Diptheria, on the other hand, continued in epidemic form and accounted
for 23 deaths. The question of Diphtheria is dealt with
on another page. Broadly, the deaths from the usual infectious
diseases, show a steady decline.
Others, in addition to those mentioned, show a steady increase,
and one of the diseases which has attracted attention