View report page

*no figures available.
Perhaps the most striking feature of these figures is the
relatively insignificant place now occupied by the infectious diseases
including tuberculosis, which together were responsible during the
year for less than 1% of the total deaths. This was, for example,
fewer than those attributable to either road or home accidents, and
the very low figure of 4 deaths from tuberculosis attained last year
was again reached.
This is a tribute to preventive measures in their widest sense,
from specific immunising procedures to an improved standard of
living, together with environmental factors that are often taken for
granted such as housing, the safe disposal of sewage and refuse,
and purity of the water supply.
While advancing knowledge of the causes of other diseases
brings new hope of, and new scope for, prevention in other fields,
it is becoming clear that unless advances in knowledge are followed
by corresponding advances in public opinion, little benefit will be
derived.
In this connection reference is made in my introductory letter
to the growing problem of cancer of the lung, and as will be seen
from the table, the number of deaths due to this condition rose to
38 compared with 33 last year. The significance of this lies not
in the magnitude of the increase, which is small, but rather in the
fact that it continues an almost unbroken trend.
Compared with last year, there were also similar small
increases in deaths from cancer (all sites), respiratory and
circulatory diseases.
The overall death rate remained satisfactory, the level being
below that for England and Wales as a whole, though the factors
mentioned above led to a small increase compared with the previous
year.