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In those of 7 to 8 months duration of pregnancy (i.e., 19), the
average duration of labour was 9 hours, 2 received ante-natal
supervision at the clinic, 10 elsewhere, and 7 apparently received
no ante-natal care at all. The alleged causes were given
as condition of mother, albuminuria, "fright," macerated
anencephalic, fall, delayed delivery of head. 2 other cases gave a
history of two previous stillbirths and 1 miscarriage in one instance,
and in the other 1 previous stillbirth and twins dying at 1 hour.
Two were under 6 months gestation, 12 and 8 hours labour
respectively. These patients had received ante-natal care
elsewhere. The alleged cause was given as condition of mother
in first case, the cause of the second being unknown, but the foetus
was reported to have been dead two days. No particulars were
obtainable concerning the remaining 2.
It has been the practice of this department for some years,
to obtain a history of the pregnancy, confinement and puerperium
in all cases where stillbirths have occurred; this information, in
course of time, should prove of value and will, we hope, enable causes
predisposing to stillbirths to be removed.
124 infants under one year of age died during the year, giving
an infant mortality rate of 63.98 per 1,000 live births, compared
with that of 59 for England and Wales and 67 for London. The
rate among legitimate children was 62.30, while for illegitimate
children it was 136.36. This latter figure is high and bears out the
experience of the majority of areas and shows that the expected
illegitimate infant mortality is normally much greater than that
occurring among legitimate births. Social factors enter largely
into the explanation of this. These figures are those supplied by
the Registrar-General.
The figures following are those taken from our records of
notifications received in this office and do not strictly agree with
the total of children who died under the age of one year.
Neo-natal deaths : there were 42 deaths of infants under one
month of age, this giving a neo-natal rate of 21.67 and constituting
35 per cent, of the total of the infants who died before attaining
the age of one year.
Relatively this neo-natal death rate has diminished, the
reduction being from 58 per cent, of the total infant deaths in 1930
to 35 per cent, in the year under review. This may be considered
as an indication of the care the mothers are bestowing on their
newly born infants, which in turn to some extent, is assignable to
the maternity and child welfare service.
Infant Mortality.