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amongst those over 65. Falls account for 60 per cent. of the fatalities
(for 80 per cent. of those amongst the elderly) while burns and scalds
account for 15 per cent. affecting mostly the small children and to a
less extent, the elderly. Of children under five, more are killed in the
home than are killed on the roads, and more, too, than die from any
single infectious disease. Much has been done to reduce the losses from
these two causes. Special attention needs to be devoted to reducing
fatal domestic accidents.
Deaths from Suicide. Six men and nine women committed
suicide, four of the men and all but one of the women choosing poisoning
by coal gas. One of the men and the other woman took poison, and the
remaining man died by hanging. The incidence was even throughout
the year, there being one event in most months, but in each of three
months, two.
Deaths from Cancer. Cancer and other malignant diseases are
responsible for about 15 per cent. of the deaths ; of fatalities amongst
those dying between the ages of 60 and 70, one-fifth are due to cancer.
Out of 1,837 local deaths, 359 (158 male and 201 female) were due
to cancer or other malignant disease, a percentage of 19. Diseases
of the respiratory organs were commonest amongst males (bronchus 27,
and lung 15), the next most frequent site being the stomach (31). Primary
growths in the large intestine and in the rectum each accounted for 17
deaths. Amongst females, the commonest site was the breast (42) ; the
lesions of the other reproductive organs accounted for 34 deaths, the
uterus being the primary site in 20 and the ovary in 14. The large
intestine (31 cases) was the second commonestly affected site, accounting
for many more deaths among females than among males, whereas lesions
of the other parts of the intestinal tract (stomach 19 and rectum 14) were
less common, as were also the lesions of the respiratory tract (lungs six
and bronchus eight).
Eight deaths of males were the result of malignant disease of the
prostate ; these are independent of the many deaths which occur amongst
elderly males as the result of non-malignant enlargement of this gland.