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
Kensington 1890
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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their first year, 5 dying in the second, and 1 in the third year
of life. The causes of death, as registered, were atrophy, debility,
and inanition, 16; premature birth, 10; tubercular diseases, 11;
zymotic diseases, 29 (viz., diarrhoea, 12 ; measles and whoopingcough,
8 each, atid diphtheria, 1); syphilis, 8; lung diseases, 26;
convulsions, 8; brain diseases, 4; diseases of the digestive
organs, 4; violence (accidental suffocation), 5, and erysipelas
and thrush, 1 each. Illegitimate children are commonly brought
up by hand, under the charge of strangers. The evidence of
improper feeding, and of the lack of maternal care, is apparent
enough in the above list of the causes of death.
SENILE MORTALITY.
At sixty years of age and upwards, there were 826 deaths
(including 38 in the 53rd week), against 773, 842, and 727 in
the three preceding years respectively, being equivalent to 28 per
cent, on total deaths, the equivalent percentage in Loudon as a
whole being 24.0.
The death-rate per 1000 persons living, at different periods of life, was as follows:—
| 1890. | 1889. | 1888. | 1887. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under five years of age | 56.5 | 41.1 | 56.4 | 60.0 |
| Five and under 15 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 3.4 |
| Fifteen ,, ,, 25 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
| Twenty-five ,, 35 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 5.2 | 4.4 |
| Thirty-five ,, 45 | 9.9 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 10.0 |
| Forty-five „ 55 | 17.4 | 14.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 |
| Fifty-five ,, 65 | 32.2 | 27.2 | 28.5 | 32.5 |
| Sixty-five ,, 75 | 70.9 | 56.6 | 64.1 | 61.2 |
| Seventy-five ,, 85 | 153.6 | 141.1 | 151.6 | 151.6 |
| Eighty-five and upwards | 306.5 | 328.3 | 300.0 | 867.8 |