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Comparisons with 1932.
(i) Measles, which was prevalent during the first half of
the year, showed an increased mortality. All the deaths occurred
under 15 years of age. (ii) Whooping Cough showed a decreased
fatality in the first five years of life, (iii) An increase in the
number of deaths from diphtheria, (iv) Deaths from influenza
remained much the same, (v) Deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis,
which are largely concentrated between 15 and 45 years of
age, showed an increase, (vi) Cancer deaths increased with a
preponderance of deaths over 45 years of age, as in 1932. (vii)
Deaths attributed to senile decay remained much the same,
(viii) Organic heart disease was ithe chief cause of death, (ix) A
decrease in deaths from acute and chronic bronchitis, (x) An
increase of 1 only in infantile deaths from diarrhoea, (xi) A slight
decrease in deaths from nephritis, (xii) A decrease in the number
of suicides. Deaths from violence and suicide combined now loom
sufficiently conspicuous in the causes of death to assume importance
from Public Health aspects.
Comments on Table IX.
(i) Cancer remains the chief cause of death between the ages
of 55 and 65 years closely followed by heart disease, (ii) Heart
disease is the main cause of death over 65, followed by cancer,
(iii) Heart disease took the place of cancer as the chief cause of
death of persons dying in institutions, (iv) The main causes of
death in persons over 65—excluding senile decay—were: Heart
Disease (444), Cancer (177), Cerebral Hasmorrhage (105), Pneumonia
(98). (v) Pneumonia still showed its maxima at boih
extremes of life as in previous years. The most dangerous time
of life until the 45—55 age is reached is the first year, (vii) Violent
death overtakes the older groups of the population rather more
often than the younger groups, though in 1930, 1931, 1932 and
the year under review the age-group 15—25 had a large number
of fatalities from this cause. Suicide was commonest between 45
and 65 as in previous years.
There are a few points of difference between Table IX and
the short list of causes of death supplied by the RegistrarjGeneral.
The causes of the differences are due to ,the different methods of
classification when more than one cause of death is given on the
death certificate. For example, in the abbreviated table of the
Registrar-General there are 736 deaths from Heart Disease, whilst
Table IX gives only 627. There are, however, given in the latter
table 99 deaths from Senile Decay as against 46 in the Registrar-