View report page

ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1953
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Borough of Hendon
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the
year 1953, this being my twenty-fourth report as Medical
Officer of Health
It will be seen from the vital statistics that the
health conditions continue to be satisfactory.
The most notable feature in the vital statistics is
the further decline in the Infantile Mortality Rate, The
number of infant deaths fell, giving an infant death rate
of 15 94 per 1,000 live births compared with 20.7 in 1952
This rate shares with that for the year 1950, the distinction
of being the lowest on record Of the 32 deaths
which occurred, 21 were children under the age of four
weeks, thus giving a neo natal mortality rate of 10 46
per 1,000 live birthsi
One illegitimate child only, out of 101 illegitimate
births, died before reaching the age of 1 year. This gives
an infantile mortality rate for this group of 10 00 per
1.000 illegitimate live births This is a reversal of
what has prevailed in the past and as recently as 1938
the mortality amongst illegitimate children was double
that of the legitimate This is probably due to the increasing
care which is being devoted to the unmarried
mother and her child and which in return is reflected in
a higher sense of maternal responsibility.
The corrected death rate for the district was 9 89 per
1,000 home population compared with 11 4 for England and
Wales, Heart and associated diseases accounted for the
largest number of deaths, 521 people dying from these
causes. Cancer deaths, while second in the principal causes,
were less than in 1952
One woman died as a result of childbirth, giving a
maternal mortality rate of 0.49 per 1,000 total births
which compares favourably with that, for the country as a
whole.
There was an increase of 1,191 in the number of notifications
of infectious disease compared with the previous
year, due mainly to an outbreak of measles which commenced
in the last quarter of 1952 and continued into 1953
4