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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
Barking 1935
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barking]
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16
(h) Neo-Natal Mortality during the year 1935.
Causes of Neo-Natal deaths:—
| Under 1 week. | 1—2 weeks. | 2—3 weeks. | 3—4 weeks. | Total under 4 weeks. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atelectasis of Lung | 3 | _ | _ | _ | 3 |
| Bronchitis | — | — | — | — | _ |
| Cerebral Cyst | — | — | — | _ | _ |
| Cerebral Haemorrhage | 1 | — | — | — | 1 |
| Congenital Heart Disease | 3 | 1 | — | — | 4 |
| Enteritis | — | — | — | — | — |
| Fractured Skull | 1 | — | — | _ | 1 |
| Gastritis | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hydrocephalus | — | — | — | — | — |
| Haemorrhage into Spinal Cord | — | — | — | — | — |
| Insuflicient Inherent Vitality | 2 | — | — | — | 2 |
| Laryngitis | — | — | — | — | — |
| Marasmus | 1 | — | — | 1 | 2 |
| Measles | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paralytic Ileus | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| Pneumonia | — | — | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Prematurity | 14 | — | 1 | — | 15 |
| Septicaemia | — | — | 1 | — | 1 |
| Specific | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| Toxaemia | — | — | — | — | — |
| Whooping Cough | — | — | — | — | — |
| Totals | 25 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 35 |
It will be seen from the tables that of the sixty-four deaths under the age of one
year, no less than thirty-five were four weeks of age or under, and prematurity is
given as the cause of death in the cases of fifteen babies, who died within the first
four weeks of life.
The fact that thirty-five died within the first month, leaving only twenty-nine
deaths for the remaining eleven months of the first year of life, shows that our chief
problem at the present time is the mortality among the newly born.
Out of the thirty-five babies who died under the age of one month, no less than
twenty-five died within the first week.
This would seem to indicate to me that your chief means of dealing with this
problem must lie along the lines of increasing care and attention to the lying-in
period and the ante-natal period. Your activities in this direction, which will be
considerably strengthened by pending legislation, would seem to me to be a direct
approach to this problem.
In the year 1933 there were no less than seventeen deaths from gastro-enteritis
(summer diarrhoea), but during 1935 we have continued with the relatively favourable
position established in 1934.