London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Shoreditch 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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The following table gives the age distribution of the 28 persons who died from influenza during 1937:—
Table No. 45
| Under 1 year. | 1 — year. | 5— years. | 15 years. | 25— years. | 35— years. | 45— years. | 55— years. | 65— years. | 75— years. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
DIARRHCEA AND ENTERITIS
During the year 11 deaths of children under two years of age from diarrhcea
and enteritis, along with associated and other conditions, were reported. This
gives a death rate of 0.13 per 1,000 population and 9.00 per 1,000 births. These
figures for Shoreditch and for London respectively are given along with the corresponding
figures for children under one year of age in the following table:—
Table No. 46
| Deaths under two years. | Deaths under one year. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number. | Rate per 1,000 population | Rate per 1,000 births. | Total number. | Rate per 1,000 population | Rate per 1,000 births. | Percentage of deaths under 1 yr. | ||||||||
| 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | 1936 | 1937 | |
| London | 823 | 662 | 0.20 | 0.16 | 14.5 | 12.0 | 785 | 626 | 0.19 | 0.15 | 13.95 | 1 1.44 | 20.9 | 19.2 |
| Shoreditch | 28 | 11 | 0.33 | 0.13 | 21.98 | 9.00 | 25 | 11 | 0.29 | 0.33 | 19.60 | 9.00 | 25.3 | 16.7 |
The following table shows the monthly incidence of the deaths of true enteritis
(that is, enteritis not associated with other diseases) in the seven years 1931-1337.
The table shows that the seasonal incidence in these small samples was quite unimportant
apart from the fact that a slightly larger number of deaths occurred in July, 1931.
The conclusion that must be drawn from these figures is that deaths which are certified
as being due to diarrhoea and enteritis are not due to typical epidemic (summer)
diarrhoea, which is essentially a disease of the late summer and early autumn.