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187
Deaths Under One Month.
An analysis of Table VI. shows that 18.5 per cent. of the
infant deaths occurred before the baby was 24 hours old; 30.4 per
cent. during the first week of life; and 41.5 per cent, before the
end of the first month. In 1937 the corresponding figures were
23.5 per cent., 34.2 per cent., and 46.4 per cent. These figures
relate to infant deaths due to causes probably operating before
birth. The chief individual cause was premature birth, which was
the assigned cause in 42.9 per cent of deaths under 1 month of
life. In the same group can foe placed debility which was the
cause of 25 per cent. Injury at birth is rather different, inasmuch
as it is, by skilled ante-natal and natal attention, avoidable; injury
caused 3.6 per cent, of the deaths. Deaths under one month due
to congenital deformities constituted 16.1 per cent. of the whole
during this age period.
Deaths Under Three Months.
Seventy-eight babies died during the first three months of
life, a percentage of the total infant deaths of 57.8, and an infant
mortality rate of 23 per 1,000 births. As the total infantile
mortality rate was 40, it is seen that more than one-half of that
rate was due to deaths in infants under 3 months of age. A
perusal of the causes of death between the end of the period dealt
with in the preceding section, and the end of the third month
shows the chief of these to be: Diarrhoea, 6 deaths, and Pneumonia,
5 deaths.
Deaths between the 4th month and the end of the first year
ot life numbered 57 and were caused chiefly by Diarrhoea (28.1 per
cent.) and Pneumonia (14.0 per cent.). These two conditions,
year by year, figure as the most prominent causes of death at this
age period.
The Pneumonia deaths in all babies under 1 year occurred in
the following months:—January 4, February 2, March 3, April
1, June 1, October 1, November 1, and December 1.
Taking the figures in the table as a whole, the outstanding
features are:—
(1) The predominance of Prematurity and conditions classified
as Debility and Marasmus. Between them they accounted for 31.1
cent, of the total deaths, and contributed 12.6 deaths per 1,000
births towards the infantile mortality rate.