Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Coulsdon]
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DEATHS
The number of deaths registered during 1959 as belonging
to this District was 927 (394 males and 533 females), an increase
of 50 compared with the previous year. Of this total 295 deaths
(86 males and 209 females) occurred in the mental hospitals. The
uncorrected death rate was 13.3, but the corrected death rate
which allows for the high proportion of deaths occurring in the
mental hospitals is 9.9 which compares with the rate of 11.6 for
England and Wales.
In order that a more accurate comparison can be made, the
records in respect of normal residents have been kept separate
from those of mental hospital patients and a full list of the causes
of deaths and the ages at which they occurred is given in Tables
III and IV.
The principal causes of death during 1959 are shown in the
following table:—
TABLE II
Cause. | Number of Deaths | |
---|---|---|
General Population | Mental Hospitals | |
Heart and circulatory diseases | 254 | 124 |
Pneumonia | 28 | 57 |
Bronchitis | 23 | 9 |
Accidents | 24 | 17 |
Malignant neoplasms other than lung | 89 | 25 |
Malignant neoplasm, lung | 27 | 1 |
HEART AND CIRCULATORY DISEASE
Among the ordinary residents the death rate from heart and
circulatory disease was 3.66 compared with an average of 3.75 in
the preceeding five years.
Ignoring the mental hospital group, 71 per cent of residents
dying from heart and circulatory disease were over 65 years of
age at the time of death, compared with an average of 74 per
cent in the previous five years.
CANCER
The cancer death rate in respect of normal residents was 2.04
in 1959 compared with an average of 1.78 in the previous five years.
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