London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Dagenham 1934
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Dagenham]
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48
Public Health (Prevention of Tuberculosis) Regulations,
1925 and Public Health Act, 1925, Section 62.
No case arose during the year requiring action under the
above Regulations and Act.
Tuberculosis After-Care Association.
This Association has held many meetings throughout the
year, giving grants to necessitous cases.
Prevention of Blindness.
No special action was taken under section 66 of the Public
Health Act, 1925, for the prevention of blindness, or for the
treatment of persons suffering from any disease or injury to the eye.
Cancer.
The number of deaths from cancer is 63, compared with figures
of 45, 37, 52, 50 and 55 for the previous years. The number of
deaths assigned to the disease by the Registrar-General is 62, but
the copies of certificates received by this department show the
figure to be 63.
The following table shows the age and sex distribution of the deaths from cancer of different sites :—
| MALES. | FEMALES. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 35/44 | 45/54 | 55/64 | Over 65 | Under 35 | 35/44 | 45/54 | 55/64 | Over 65 | Total | |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | —_ | — | ||||
| — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | |||
| — | — | — | 14 | ||||||||
| — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 2 | |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | ||
| — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | 4 | |||
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | |||
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 4 | |||
| — | 3 | 1 | — | 15 | |||||||
| — | — | — | — | — | 1 | _ | 1 | — | 4 | ||
It will be seen that the organ most commonly affected was the
stomach, the next in order of frequency being the large intestine,
The cancer mortality for this area is remarkably low, the
explanation being that by far the larger number of inhabitants
are below middle age. As the age of the community increases,
one may expect the incidence of cancer to increase correspondingly.