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12
Deaths.—The number of deaths assigned to the Borough is
1,499, three less than the number recorded in the previous year.
The death-rate for the year under review is 9.3 per thousand of
population compared with the rate of 9.6 recorded in 1937. The
death-rate of 9.3 is the second lowest recorded for the Borough,
the lowest death-rate being that of 8.9 recorded in 1913. The
death-rate for the Borough compares very favourably with the
death-rate of 11.6 for England and Wales.
By multiplying the death-rate for Ealing by the " comparability
factor " supplied by the Registrar General, the death-rate for
the Borough can be made comparable with that of other districts.
The "factor" for Ealing is 1.01, which makes the comparable
death-rate 9.4 per thousand of population.
The causes of the 1,499 deaths are indicated in the table on
page 11. It will be seen from this table that heart disease (401),
cancer (235) and tuberculosis of respiratory system (100) were the
three main causes of death and that the number of deaths due to
each of these three causes was higher than in the preceding year.
The deaths from influenza and bronchitis, however, showed a
marked reduction.
Infant Deaths.—The infant death-rate of 43 per thousand
births compares very favourably with the rates for England and
Wales, for the Great Towns and for London, which are respectively
53, 57 and 57. The infant death-rates in recent years are shown
in the table on page 10, which indicates in a striking manner the
great reduction in infant mortality which has been effected in the
last thirty years.
The actual number of deaths of infants under one year of age
was 103, this being three less than in the preceding year. The
tables which follow indicate prematurity (36 deaths) as the main
cause of death, while the 15 deaths due to. diarrhoea and enteritis
is the highest number recorded in recent years.
It will be seen that 51 of the deaths occurred before the infant
was one week old, while 59 occurred before the age of four weeks.
This latter figure gives a neo-natal death-rate of 25 per thousand
live births,