London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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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
Beckenham 1945
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Beckenham]
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STILL BIRTH RATE.
This rate has shown a steady rise throughout the whole period,
and is difficult to account for. The question of Still Birth is discussed
in the body of this report.
ILLEGITIMACY.
The only note-worthy point is the rise during the war years.
indicated to the Health and Welfare Committee earlier in the year
that though the percentage of illegitimate births had increased
greatly all over the country, certain facts suggested that the premarital
conception rate was not very different from the rate in the
years before the war.
It may be noted that the percentage of Illegitimate births in
Beckenham during the last two years of the last War (1918-1919)
was between seven and eight per cent.
VARIOUS DEATH RATES.
| Period | Death Rate | Cancer Death Rate | Tuberculosis. Notifications and Death Rate | Infantile Mortality Rate per 1,000 live births | Maternal Mortality Rate per 1,000 births | Violence | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | ||||||||
| N. | D.R. | N. | D.R. | ||||||
| 1920-1924 | 9.96 | 1.43 | 1.08 | 0.60 | 0.41 | 0.09 | 53.19 | 2.23 | 0.30 |
| 1925-1929 | 10.61 | 1.52 | 0.96 | 0.56 | 0.37 | 0.13 | 48.09 | 3.24 | 0.32 |
| 1930-1934 | 9.29 | 1.50 | 0.79 | 0.44 | 0.25 | 0.04 | 35.51 | 2.53 | 0.32 |
| 1935-1939 | 8.89 | 1.43 | 0.77 | 0.39 | 0.19 | 0.06 | 33.04 | 1.49 | 0.38 |
| 1940-1944 | 11.31 | 1.93 | 1.06 | 0.43 | 0.16 | 0.06 | 30.04 | 0.70 | 0.16 |
The outstanding point in this table is that for the first four
of the five-year periods, every rate except the Cancer rate and Deaths
from violent causes declined more or less steadily.
During the last period (the war period) the general Death rate
and the Death rates from Cancer and from Pulmonary Tuberculosis
rose ; Infantile Mortality and Maternal Mortality continued to
decline, and there was a sharp fall in the Deaths from Violence.
(Deaths from enemy action are not included in the table.)
The General Death Rate and the Cancer Rate were no doubt
affected by the evacuation of mothers and children to other areas;
the reduced population of the war years, on which the rates are
based, contained a greater proportion of middle aged and elderly
people, and this in itself would cause a rise in the death rates.
Pulmonary Tuberculosis increased in incidence during the
earlier years of the war ; in this disease increased incidence is
quickly reflected in an increased fatality rate.
The fact that the war years did not interrupt the steady decline
in the Infantile Mortality and Maternal Mortality rates is a cause
for satisfaction.
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