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 1945
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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11
Redhill House and 80, including 5 new-born infants, at other County
institutions. 12 deaths occurred in institutions for the treatment of the
tuberculous. 77 deaths took place in hospitals just outside the district,
and 100 in the various London 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 | 187 | 241 |
| Cerebro-spinal fever | 0 | 2 | Other circ. diseases | 22 | 27 |
| Scarlet fever | 0 | 0 | Bronchitis | 59 | 25 |
| Whooping cough | 2 | 0 | Pneumonia | 57 | 49 |
| Diphtheria | 3 | 1 | Other resp. diseases | 15 | 12 |
| Resp. tuberculosis | 38 | 31 | Ulcer of stomach | 23 | 6 |
| Other tuberculosis | 3 | 6 | Diarrhoea under 2 years | 7 | 2 |
| Syphilitic diseases | 8 | 5 | Appendicitis | 4 | 5 |
| Influenza | 6 | 1 | Other digestive diseases | 18 | 20 |
| Measles | 1 | 1 | Nephritis | 25 | 20 |
| Acute polio-myelitis | 0 | 0 | Puerperal sepsis | 0 | 1 |
| Acute encephalitis | 0 | 2 | Other maternal causes | 0 | 3 |
| Cancer of mouth and oesophagus (M), and uterus (F) | 18 | 17 | Premature birth | 15 | 8 |
| Cong. malformations, etc. | 26 | 13 | |||
| Cancer of stomach | 27 | 27 | Suicide | 9 | 5 |
| Cancer of breast | 0 | 36 | Road traffic accidents | 8 | 3 |
| Cancer of other sites | 112 | 87 | Other violent causes | 28 | 22 |
| Diabetes | 6 | 4 | All other causes | 82 | 74 |
| Intra.-cran. lesions | 68 | 99 | All causes | 877 | 855 |
The number of deaths, 1,732, is identical with the figure for the
previous year, though because of the larger population the death rate is
lower. The number of male deaths was very slightly higher than in
1944, though the increase was not especially marked for any special
cause of death. The number of female deaths was slightly lower in
spite of an increase of 56 in the number due to heart disease, an increase
which was offset by a reduction in deaths from other circulatory diseases
and from respiratory complaints. In each sex the number of deaths due
to cancer was much the same as for 1944, while those from tuberculosis
and also those of children under one year of age showed a decline.
The war years saw a sharp rise both in the number of deaths occurring
in the district, and in the death rate per thousand population. From
1934 to the outset of the war, the number of deaths rose roughly in
proportion to the growth of the population, so that the death rate
remained more or less uniform, the actual figures from 1934 onwards
being 8.1, 7.7 for three years, 7.1 in 1938, and 7.4 in 1939. In this year
with a population of 189,000, there were 1,408 deaths. With a slightly
lower population of 188,710 in 1940, there was a marked rise in deaths
to 1,725, since when no lower figure has been recorded, the death rates
for the years 1940 onwards being 9.1, 9.1, 9.3, 9.1, 9.3 and 9.0 in 1945,
when 1,732 deaths occurred. During the war years, more particularly