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48
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS.
The total number of live births registered during the year was 3,934,
2,040 male and 1,894 female, a marked increase on the 1945 figure of
3,068.
Of these, 179 were illegitimate, being a percentage of total births of
4.5, a lower figure than the 5.8 of the previous year.
2,701 births occurred in the district (2,657 live and 44 stillbirths). Of
this number 584 (574 live and 10 stillbirths) were to residents of other
districts. Of the local confinements, 2,602 were notified by midwives,
and 99 by doctors or parents.
1,765 (1,701 live and 64 stillbirths) notifications were transferred from
other districts, being mostly of births occurring to Harrow mothers in
Middlesex County Council or London hospitals.
STILLBIRTHS.
Stillbirths registered were 68 male and 54 female, being a rate per
thousand population of 0.30, compared with the figure of 0'53 for the
country as a whole.
Of the 68 cases about which any particulars have been obtained
3 were dead before the onset of a premature labour. In 4 others the baby
was apparently alive at the onset of a premature labour. Of the 11 other
cases when labour was premature, toxaemia was apparently the cause
of death in 3.
In 6 instances death had occurred some time before the onset of
labour at full term.
In most cases the infant was alive at the onset of labour at term.
In 8 cases there was definite difficulty in delivery arising from some
such condition as impacted shoulders, transverse presentation, small
pelvis, etc. Toxaemia was present in 7 cases, while in 3 there was
abnormal development (hydrocephalus or spina bifida). Prolapse of
the cord or the cord round the neck was the ascribed cause of death in
7 cases, and haemorrhage in three. In 18 cases, though, no explanation
for the occurrence of death could be obtained.
INFANT MORTALITY.
During the year, 129 infants (68 male and 61 female) died under
one year of age, this being an infant mortality rate of 31.0 compared
with 43.0 for the country as a whole. The legitimate rate was 30.3
and the illegitimate rate 67.0.
Ninety-seven failed to survive one month. The neo-natal rate was
therefore 25'6, constituting 75 per cent. of the infant mortality rate. Of
these 97, 27 failed to survive the 24 hours, the cause of death in 10
being prematurity, in 4 atelectasis, and in 7 birth injury. Deaths
occurring of infants who survived 24 hours but failed to live 7 days were 45.
Prematurity was the cause in 20, diseases of the new-born 7, abnormality
4, immaturity and atelectasis 3 each, birth injury 5, and pneumonia 2.
Of the 25 who survived one week, but succumbed before the end of one
month, in 9 the cause was prematurity, in 4 developmental abnormality,