London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Croydon 1930

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]

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112
The following Table shows the intervals of time elapsing
between the date of notification of a patient as suffering from
Pulmonary Tuberculosis and the date of his death from that complaint.
In the total of 154 deaths during 1930, 30 (19.4%) were
either not notified at all or only notified a month prior to death.
In 1929 this figure was 43 or 25.3%.
15 of these were not notified during life. Of these 15, 8 were
certified by the Coroner or discovered after a post-mortem examination
bad been held; 1 died outside the Borough; 4 were cases of
fulminating or complicated cases of Tuberculosis; 2 cases died in
hospitals in Croydon.
Pulmonary Tuberculosis in the vast majority of sufferers is a
relatively chronic disease and it rarely kills so rapidly that its entire
course is only of a month's duration. It must be inferred either,
that the victims omitted to seek advice until absolutely compelled
to do so, or the medical men in attendance did not diagnose the
condition until it was far advanced. Early notification is of great
importance from both the preventative and the curative aspects of
this malady.
In 27.2% notification preceded death by less than six months.
For Non-pulmonary Tuberculosis the proportion of non-notified
fatal cases to the total deaths from this form of the disease was
66.6%. In other words, out of a total of 21 deaths, 14 were not
notified during life; only 5 of these 14 cases died at home.
Of the total deaths from Tuberculosis of all forms, 29 or 16.5%,
were not notified prior to death, compared with 21.6% in 1929.
Interval Between Notification and Death From Pulmonary
Tuberculosis in Cases Dying in 1930.

Table LI.

Not NotifiedUnder 1 week1-2 weeks2-4 weeks1-2 months2-3 months3-6 months6-12 months
15636671427
One YearTwo YearsThree YearsFour YearsFive YearsSix YearsSeven YearsEight years and over
301189...219

Table LII shows the incidence rate of all forms of Tuberculosis
for the various wards of the Borough, based on ward populations
calculated from a total population of 222,300. The death rate for
the whole Borough was 0.79.