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20
Infantile Mortality.
The deaths amongst infants under one year numbered 122, of which 61 were
males and 61 females. These deaths amounted to 10.27 per cent. of the total nett
Shoreditch deaths from all causes as compared with 9.1 per cent. in 1933.
The infantile mortality rate (death rate of infants under one year) was at the
rate of 84 per 1,000 births registered during the year. Amongst male infants this
rate was 78 and amongst females 90. The infant mortality rates in the different
Wards of the Borough are included in the table on page 17.
The number of deaths of illegitimate infants was 3, which figure gives a death
rate of 56 per 1,000 illegitimate births.
During the last five years the infant mortality rates for England and Wales,
London and Shoreditch have been as follows:—

The causes of deaths of infants under one year together with ages and ward
distribution are given in the table on the opposite page.
The upward trend of infantile mortality in London as a whole has evidently
been reflected in Shoreditch, though the table on page 25 shows that, despite the
degree of poverty and overcrowding in the Borough, the infantile mortality rate
compares favourably with the rates for other Boroughs of similar nature. The table
which faces this page shows that the three chief causes of death were diarrhoea and
enteritis (28 deaths), pneumonia (27 deaths), and prematurity (26 deaths). For
some years the deaths from these three causes have been more or less equal and of
paramount importance. As is to be expected, prematurity took its toll during the
first month of life, and the other two diseases in the later months. It should be
remembered that these three conditions are all preventable. It should also be
pointed out that a substantial reduction in the number of deaths from any one of
the three would cause a material decrease in the infantile mortality rate.