View report page

Maternal Mortality.
There were no maternal deaths during the year.
One mother, a multipara, not certified as a maternal death, died
seven days after the birth of a full term male child. Five days after
the birth the case was "notified" to me as a puerperal pyrexia. Following
a post-mortem the cause of death was found to be broncho-pneumonia. The
pyrexia was due to pneumonia and pyelitis, the onset being two days after
the confinement.
Accidental Deaths.
The number of deaths from accidents of all kinds continues to
increase, and rose in the Borough from 36 to 49. These included 9 due
to motor vehicles, the same as in the previous year (see Table on page 55 ),
16 at home, 5 at work, 6 due to drowning, 1 intoxication, 3 falls in
street, 1 fall in hospital, 1 mauling by lion, 1 under anaesthetic,
1 blow on head, and 5 due to causes not stated.
In England and Wales, 6,651 deaths from accidents were recorded in
1955, and four-fifths of these occurred in children under 5 and in elderly
people. The Ministry drew attention to the dangers from inflammable
fabrics used for clothes. Mothers should buy for their children
non-inflammable fabrics which are now widely available.
Loss of Expected Years of Life.
Mortality rates in the Borough for the years 1953-1955, in terms of
years of life lost, are given in the Table on page 57 , together with the
figures for 1955 for the country as a whole. Local rates, when compared
with national rates, need to be adjusted by a weighting factor which
allows for any differences in population age structures, and as the
standard weights for 1956 are not yet available, statistics for this year
cannot be compiled.
For the purpose of calculating "loss" rates, working life is taken
as the period between 15 and 64 years, and the age of natural death as at
85 years.
The statistics show that, although the death rate from all causes
for 1955 was higher than that for 1954, the loss rates on the whole were
less. Cancer (all sites) death rate of the Borough was higher than that
of England and Wales, as were the loss rates. Cancer (lung) in males
death rate was 33% greater than the previous year and nearly twice that
for the country as a whole, the loss rates being proportionately higher.
Bronchitis and Pneumonia death rates and loss rates were much higher
than in 1954, an increase not reflected in the figures for England and
Wales, The fall in both the death and loss rates for Pulmonary Tuberculosis
over the three years reviewed is quite appreciable, and much
greater than the national reduction.
11