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single cause of mortality in the District. Year
after year I have mentioned the fact that, although
diseases such as coronary thrombosis and lung cancer
take an appalling toll of life, particularly the lives
of men at the height of their power, "epidemiology" as
we know the term is still closely linked with infectious
illnesses. This is not to say that infectious illnesses
should not receive careful attention. The fact that
most infectious diseases are now mild in nature, especially
such diseases as pertussis and scarlet fever, by no means
implies that this mildness will continue. None the
less , the sooner it is realised that such diseases as
hearo disease call for much more careful study, and until
the causes of heart and similar diseases are discovered
and the appropriate remedies applied, death rates will
continue to be much higher than most of us would like to
see.
As I have remarked before, there are no
conditions actually existing within the Urban District
which one can point to as contributing to cardiac disease.
It is a fact, however, tint Friern Barnet shares with the
rest of the country the strain of modern life, which is
clearly having an effect upon so many families. The
journey which so many of our residents have to take to
and from London every day, is presumably a factor which
must also be taken into account.
Finally Friern Barnet, as a built-up area,
even if not in any sense of the word a congested area,
leaves its population more vulnerable than the population
of rural areas, where the tempo and strain of life are
not so hectic, and where, incidentally, a smoke-laden
atmosphere does not constitute a real health hazard.
Altogether, although many explanations for
the increase in cardiac fatalities over the past few years
have been advanced, and although a great deal of valuable
research is going on in this and other countries, the
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