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
Harrow 1942
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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residents was 1,818, a figure comparable to that of 1,774 in 1942, the
previous highest figure.
Of the 92 outward transfer deaths, 30 took place at the Orthopedic
Hospital, 8 at the Harrow and Wealdstone Hospital, 16 in Nursing
Homes and 31 in private houses.
Of the 897 deaths of local residents which occurred outside the area,
most took place in institutions, 390 being at Redhill Hospital, 97 at
Redhill House and 66 (including 8 new-born infants) at other County
Hospitals. Nine deaths occurred at institutions for the treatment of
tuberculosis and 27 at Shenley Hospital. 96 deaths took place in hospitals
just outside the district and 101 in various London General Hospitals.
The following is the Registrar General's abridged list of causes of death in the district:—
| male | female | male | female | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typhoid fever | 0 | 0 | Heart disease | 228 | 237 |
| Cerebro-spinal fever | 4 | 0 | Other circ. diseases | 31 | 26 |
| Scarlet fever | 0 | 0 | Bronchitis | 52 | 38 |
| Whooping cough | 1 | 1 | Pneumonia | 50 | 33 |
| Diphtheria | 2 | 4 | Other res. diseases | 13 | 8 |
| Resp. tuberculosis | 61 | 40 | Ulcer of stomach | 14 | 5 |
| Other tuberculosis | 1 | 7 | Diarrhoea under 2 years | 3 | 5 |
| Syphilitic diseases | 13 | 2 | Appendicitis | 4 | 3 |
| Influenza | 6 | 8 | Other digestive diseases | 26 | 20 |
| Measles | 1 | 1 | Nephritis | 21 | 20 |
| Acute polio-myelitis | — | — | Puerperal sepsis | — | 2 |
| Acute encephalitis | — | — | Other maternal causes | — | 3 |
| Cancer of mouth and oesophagus (M), and uterus (F) | 14 | 12 | Premature birth | 22 | 11 |
| Cong. malformations, etc | 22 | 23 | |||
| Cancer of stomach | 24 | 18 | Suicide | 2 | 8 |
| Cancer of breast | — | 29 | Road traffic accidents | 10 | 4 |
| Cancer of other sites | 110 | 94 | Other violent causes | 22 | 31 |
| Diabetes | 5 | 5 | All other causes | 85 | 76 |
| Intra.-cran. lesions | 75 | 113 | All causes | 922 | 896 |
1,818 deaths in a population of — is a rate of — . Last
year's rate was 9.1, a higher figure than for previous years. The increases
which were recorded in certain infections for 1941, were not repeated
in 1942, there being falls in the rates for cerebro-spinal fever,
whooping cough and respiratory tuberculosis, while the puerperal
mortality rate also fell. The 1941 figures for infantile diarrhoea and also
for road traffic accidents had exceeded normal rates, but these again by
1942 had fallen to the more usual rates so that in general these figures
were more in accord with pre-war standards than the higher figures
found in the earlier years of the war. Of the infections and those conditions
particularly susceptible to external environmental influences
only the tuberculosis rate remained at a figure substantially higher than
those usual in pre-war years.
Fatalities from the infectious diseases expressed as a rate per thousand
population again compared favourably with the figures for the country