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34
BARKING TOWN URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
Public Health Offices,
Barking, Essex.
19th November, 1926,
RHEUMATISM IN SCHOOL CHILDREN.
As directed, I beg to report upon the question of Rheumatism
in the school child, a disease with Cancer and Consumption responsible
for roughly one-third of the Country's death rate.
The following facts are interesting in the light of recent
investigations:—
1.—The total number of deaths in England and Wales in 1924
attributed to heart disease and other affections for which rheumatism
is responsible was 60,050, yielding the highest proportion per 1.000
deaths from all causes, while if deaths of the circulatory system be
added (as probably in many cases the}' should be), the figure
becomes still further augmented.
Turning to local statistics for 1925, much the same ratio is
found, 12.17 per cent, of the total death rate being due to cancer
10.62 (exclusive of diseases of the circulatory system), due to
rheumatism, and 10.88 due to tuberculosis.
2.—Besides being a fertile cause of death at all ages, rheumatism
is known to materially shorten life, 30 per cent. of all cases
where the disease has been contracted in early childhood dying
before the twentieth year, and a further 10 per cent. before the
thirtieth year. At least 50 per cent. of all rheumatic cases develop
and die from heart affections.