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7
Stillbirths.
The stillbirth rate for the year was 17.8 per 1,000 births, which
is an improvement on the rate of 23.4 of the previous year and is a
further decline in the average over the past 14 years.
Deaths.
Five hundred and eighty-two persons resident in Chislehurst and
Sidcup died in 1949—a death rate equivalent to 7.9 per 1,000 population—one
per 1,000 less than the previous year and 1.5 per 1,000 less
than the average since 1934.
Compared with the Death Rate of England and Wales of 11.7,
the expectation of life in Chislehurst & Sidcup is a good one. I
would not, however, like it said that the good health of Chislehurst &
Sidcup is indicated by its low death rate, for the use of death rates
as an indication of good health is outmoded. Of far more importance
to the Medical Officer of Health would be a return of sickness and
incapacity owing to sickness.
Below I have given the number of deaths under each cause of
death: there were 182 deaths from heart and other vascular diseases,
102 deaths from cancer, while 75 died of cerebral hæmorrhage.
These are the main causes of death and with an ageing population,
likely to remain so.
There were 7 deaths from road traffic accidents and 11 from other
violent causes. There were 4 suicides.
There were no maternal deaths from puerperal sepsis, but three
mothers died in childbirth. Thirty patients died from tuberculosis of
the respiratory system and 5 others from other forms of tuberculosis.
This is 10 less than the previous year.
Except for 2 cases of whooping cough deaths and one from
infantile paralysis, there were no deaths from any other notifiable
infectious disease. There was a fall in the deaths from gastric and
duodenal ulcers and other digestive diseases—13 compared with 24
for the year 1948.
Causes.
1949
1948
Cancer
Heart and Circulatory Diseases
Respiratory Diseases (not Tuberculosis)
Tuberculosis
Infectious Diseases
Road Traffic Accidents
Other Violent Causes
Suicide
Digestive Diseases
Other Causes
102
257
55
35
15
7
11
4
13
83
116
313
54
45
9
8
14
12
23
65
582
659