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earlier table the Death Rate appears to have doubled in the last
30 years.(The Death Rates given in the table have not been
corrected because the "comparability factor" was not recorded
before 1934 nor supplied from 1938-49). Undoubtedly the average
age of the residents of this District is higher now than it was
before the war.
Unfortunately there is another factor which has made it most
difficult to compare the number and particularly the causes of
death locally in recent years. Before 1953 the registrations of
deaths of the people who died in the District but normally lived
elsewhere, were transferred to their home towns. Now the rather
large numbers who die in the two big Mental Hospitals count as
if they had resided here permanently. As the inmates of these
hospitals are included in our total population this is fair, but the
alteration in the method of recording has complicated comparisons.
When we come to consider the causes of death, it will be seen
that an attempt is still being made to distinguish between ordinary
residents and this special group, and here we record that, but for
the new system, the crude Death Rate in Coulsdon and Purley in
1956 would have been 8.6 compared with 9.2, 8.6, 9.9 and 10.2 in
the preceding four years.
THE MAIN CAUSES OF DEATH AND THEIR
PREVENTION.
Ideally we would like everybody to live in good health until
they wear out from old age. It is not our concern here to deal
with how they employ their time while alive, although that is
obviously of greater importance than the mere length of life. Our
present concern is to observe what are the main causes of death
and especially those which shorten life unduly.
In Table IV in the Appendix, will be found a complete
list of the official classifications of causes and the numbers affected
divided into ordinary residents and mental hospital cases, and by
sex and age.
A number of the causes can be still further grouped together
when it is found that, as usual, the commonest causes are heart
and circulatory disease(54% of the total deaths of ordinary residents),
cancer(21%), pneumonia and bronchitis(8%), accidents
(3%) and tuberculosis(1%).
HEART AND CIRCULATORY DISEASE.
This large group is made up mainly of several quite different
causes of failure of the heart and circulatory system. Some,
but relatively few, commence life with structural defects, chiefly
of the heart which, as a result, has to work against difficulties from
birth. Advances in surgery in recent years are altering the outlook
for these unfortunates.
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