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ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Bexley.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report for the
year 1953.
The vital statistics of the Borough indicate once again
that, according to this limited yardstick, the health of the
Borough can be considered satisfactory. The customary
warning must however be given that these figures should be
accepted with guarded optimism as they give only a part,
albeit an important one, of the total health situation of a
population numbering nearly 88,000.
The birth rate for 1953 was 12.7 per 1,000 of the population
compared with 12.0 in 1952 which was the lowest ever
recorded in the Borough. It would be premature to suppose
that this represents a reversal of the downward trend which
has been noticeable for over 40 years and it is impossible to
forecast what the future rates may be. The birth rate for
1953, after correction by the comparability factor supplied by
the Registrar General (1.03), was 13.08. The uncorrected
birth rate for England and Wales was 15.5 so it will be seen
that, once again, the birth rate for the Borough was well
below that of the country as a whole.
The death rate for 1953, at 8.8 per 1,000 of the whole
population, was appreciably lower than the rate for 1952
which was 9.14 per 1,000. After correction by the comparability
factor for deaths (1.14), the rate was 10.03 and the
uncorrected death rate for England and Wales for 1953 was
11.4. Cancer was again second, after diseases of the heart
and blood vessels, among the chief causes of death.
The infant mortality rate for 1953 at 14.36 per 1,000
live births showed an increase on the record low rate for 1952
namely, 11.34 per 1,000 live births. The rate for the country
as a whole was 26.8 per 1,000 related births so that the
favourable position of the Borough, in this respect, may be
appreciated. Of the 16 infantile deaths in the Borough, six
were due to causes which were, probably, preventable,
including bronchitis and pneumonia, but it does not pay to be
too dogmatic in this matter when there are so many
unknown factors.
Infectious diseases when judged by the standards of 25
years ago, were very low. Measles headed the list with 459
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