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 1964
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Dagenham]
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The stillbirth rate was 17.0 per 1,000 total live and stillbirths, compared
with 16.4 per 1,000 for England and Wales. This is less than the rate of
17.7 per 1,000 births recorded last year.
Deaths
The infant mortality rate has risen to 22.7 per 1,000 live births, which is
greater than the rates recorded in the previous two years but slightly less than
the figure recorded in 1961. The national rate for 1964 was 20.0 per 1,000 live
births. The infant mortality rate is subject to quite considerable fluctuations
from year to year, and when viewed over a number of years it is apparent that the
general trend is downwards. The main factors contributing to the present
increase were a rise in the number of deaths attributable to birth trauma from 3
in 1963 to 9 in 1964 and three deaths due to less common causes, viz. sarooma,
diabetes mellitus, and infanticide.
The causes of infant deaths are set out in the following table-
| Cause of Death | Under 1 wk. | 1-2 wks. | 2-3 wks. | 3-4 wks. | Total under 4 wks. | 4 wks. and under 3 mo. | 3 mo. and under 6 mo. | 6 mo. and under 9 mo. | 9 mo. and under 1 yr. | Total Deaths under 1 yr. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prematurity | 7 | - | - | - | 7 | - | - | - | - | 7 |
| Prematurity with associated cause | 5 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | 5 |
| congenital abnormality | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | 4 |
| Birth trauma | 9 | - | - | - | 9 | - | - | - | - | 9 |
| Bronchopneumonia | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Bronohitis | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | 2 |
| Atelectasis | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Rhesus incompatibility | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Other oauses | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | 1 | - | - | 3 |
Among the population as a whole the principal causes of death were:-
Heart disease (all forms) 282 deaths
Cancer (including leukaemia) 235 „
Vascular lesions of nervous system 96 „
Bronchitis 61 „
Pneumonia 40 „
The number of deaths due to heart disease was a little less than the number
(297) recorded the previous year. The majority of deaths in this group are
caused by coronary disease and angina.
It is my melancholy duty to report that our record has again been broken
for deaths due to lung cancer. This year 88 people died of this disease, compared
with 74 last year. This is the commonest form of cancer causing death.
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