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 1943
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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32
There was a sharp rise in the proportion of deaths which occurred
amongst those who had not been notified, the percentage figure for
pulmonary cases being 19 (16 out of 56 deaths) as compared with 10 last
year. Of those who died from non-pulmonary disease, only 3 out of the
15 had been notified. Most of the deaths took place in institutions. In
8 of the cases (6 of them pulmonary) the diagnosis was arrived at only
as a result of post-mortem examination.
Register.
| Pulmonary | Non-pulmonary | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| No. on register January 1st, 1943 | 495 | 452 | 89 | 91 |
| No. of New Cases added | 140 | 122 | 29 | 19 |
| No. of cases added—other than on Form A | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| No. of cases restored to register | 4 | 1 | — | — |
| No. of cases removed | 90 | 76 | 16 | 17 |
| No. on Register December 31st, 1943 | 554 | 502 | 103 | 94 |
The following table is a summary of the cases removed from the register with the reasons for removal:
| Reasons for Removal | Pulmonary | Non-pulmonary | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| Left the district | 17 | 29 | 3 | 3 |
| Died | 56 | 30 | 6 | 6 |
| Cured | 13 | 15 | 4 | 8 |
| Diagnosis not confirmed or withdrawn | 4 | 2 | 3 | — |
| Total | 90 | 76 | 16 | 17 |
Deaths.
92 persons (66 male and 26 female) died from pulmonary tuberculosis
during the year and 15 (7 male and 8 female) from non-pulmonary
tuberculosis. Tuberculosis therefore accounted for 5.2 per cent.
of the total deaths in the district. The corresponding figures for last
year were 101 deaths from pulmonary and 8 deaths from non-pulmonary
tuberculosis, the disease accounting for 6.0 per cent. of total deaths.
60 per cent. of the total deaths of those who succumbed to pulmonary
tuberculosis took place outside the district, mostly in institutions, the
corresponding figure of those suffering from non-pulmonary tuberculosis
being 56 per cent.
The numbers of deaths in each of the six years 1938 to 1943 from
pulmonary tuberculosis were 68, 60, 77, 111, 104, and 101. The corresponding
figures for non-pulmonary tuberculosis were 28, 18, 16, 9, 5,
and 8, while the proportion of total deaths caused by tuberculosis in this
area in each of the years was 7.2, 5.5, 5.4, 6.7, 6.0 and 5.2. The total
population at risk was not so very different in each of those years.