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(c) A very slight decrease in the death-rate at ages 5—15 years.
At these ages the death-rate has always been low, with
correspondingly small scope for improvement. The
diseases of chief moment in recent years, in descending
order of importance, have been: Tuberculosis (nonpulmonary),
diphtheria, tuberculosis (pulmonary), pneumonia,
measles.
(d) A stationary death-rate at ages 15—25 years. This rate has
also been uniformly low. A tendency to drop slightly
from diseases other than tuberculosis has been prevented
by a slight rise in mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis
for both sexes, and more especially for females. Pulmonary
tuberculosis causes about one-half of all deaths at
these ages; and the death-rate from this disease, remaining
level from 1888 to 1900, dropped slightly till 1916, rose
during and has continued higher since the war. Various
reasons have been put forward to explain this feature,
which is not peculiar to Croydon; but the matter needs
further investigation.
(e) A slight decrease in the death-rate at ages 25—65 years.
The more important diseases in recent years affecting the
death-rate were as follows, in diminishing order of importance;
in considering them the wide range of ages in this
group must be remembered: Cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis,
pneumonia, nephritis, bronchitis. The death-rate
from cancer rose, that from pneumonia remained
stationary, that from pulmonary tuberculosis diminished
considerably, and that from nephritis and from bronchitis
declined slightly but steadily.
(/) A considerable decrease in the death-rate for persons over
65 years of age. There has been a decrease in mortality
from nephritis, bronchitis, and pulmonary tuberculosis;
a stationary death-rate from pneumonia, and a rising
death-rate from cancer, though there has been no definite
rise in the latter since 1911.
3.—The death-rates for males exceed those for females at all
age-periods and for all diseases, with the following exceptions:—
(a) The female death-rate is higher than that for males at ages
5—15 years (f) from all causes together, (ft) from pulmonary
tuberculosis and from diphtheria. No certain
reason can be given for this peculiarity, though it may be
suggested that the indoor life of the girl, as compared