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87
Causes of Death.
The causes of death of the 95 infants who died in 1936 are set out in the table
on page 31. The main causes of death were diarrhoea and enteritis (25 deaths);
pneumonia (22 deaths); prematurity (13 deaths); and measles (7 deaths). The
corresponding figures for the year 1935 for the first three of these causes was 9, 14
and 16 deaths, respectively. As was mentioned on page 30, the chief cause of
the relatively high infantile mortality for 1936 was the increase in the number of
deaths due to diseases of an infectious nature, chiefly diarrhoea and enteritis, and
pneumonia. These, together with prematurity and congenital malformations,
constitute the chief causes of infant mortality. The infectious conditions have
already received sufficient consideration in this report, but prematurity deserves
further discussion.
It is interesting to note that the deaths from prematurity were lower in 1936
than in 1935. Prematurity exerts its effects mainly during the first month of life,
whereas it will be seen from the table on page 31 that the other principal diseases
usually caused death later in the year. Prematurity, as a cause of death in infants
under one year, has not generally received the consideration which it deserves. A
premature infant may be defined as one born before the 38th week of gestation,
and the incidence of this condition is said to be about 10 per cent. of all live births.
The death rate for premature infants is very high, and in many series of statistics
about 50 per cent. of such infants die within the first year of life. Prematurity
reflects the condition not only of the child after birth, but also of its ante-natal life.
Hence it gives some indication of the condition of the mother before her confinement.