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13
Of the deaths due to the infections expressed per 1,000
population, scarlet fever showed a marked excess over the figure
for the country as a whole, having a rate of 0.07 compared with
0.02. The local fatalities from the other infections were similar
to the national rates, being identical at 0.09 in the case of measles,
and slightly less for whooping-cough (0.02 compared with 0.05),
influenza (0.12 as against 0.14), and diphtheria (0.06 as against
0.10).
Deaths from tuberculosis, pulmonary and non-pulmonary,
in proportion to the population were at a lower rate than those
for the country as a whole.
The infant mortality rate for the district was below the
average, while the maternal mortality rate was high.
156 deaths from cancer were registered during the year, 70
being of males and 86 females. The stomach was the site most
commonly affected, accounting for 15 females and 18 males, the
colon being the next most frequently affected site, accounting for
the deaths of 13 males and 18 females. Eighteen females died of
breast cancer, 11 from a lesion of the uterus, and seven of the
ovary. Ten deaths, equally divided in the sexes, were due to
carcinoma of the lung, and nine, four male and five female, to
cancer of the rectum. Carcinoma of the pancreas was limited to
males, accounting for six deaths. In 1933 the recorded deaths
from cancer per million living in England and Wales were 1,526,
the deaths amongst females being slightly commoner than those
amongst males. The corresponding rate for this district for last
year was 1,151.
The figure of 23 suicides gives a rate of 16 per 100,000 population,
compared with a figure of 14 for the country as a whole in
1933—but whereas the figure for England and Wales is divided
in the proportion to three males to one female, the figure of 23 is
comprised of 19 males and 4 females. The means most commonly
used was coal gas poisoning, this method being favoured by six
males and two females. Three male suicides were by cut-throat
and three by hanging. One male and one female each chose death
by drowning, and one of each sex by lysol poisoning. The age of
half the males was in the decade 45 to 54, the oldest male suicide
being 77 and the youngest 20.