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 1953
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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The following is the Registrar-General's abridged list of causes of death in this district:—
| Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resp. tuberculosis | 16 | 10 | Other heart diseases | 93 | 141 |
| Other tuberculosis | 3 | 1 | Influenza | 14 | 21 |
| Syphilitic disease | 3 | 0 | Pneumonia | 47 | 57 |
| Diphtheria | 0 | 0 | Bronchitis | 79 | 43 |
| Whooping Cough | 0 | 0 | Other respiratory diseases | 9 | 5 |
| Meningococcal infections | 0 | 1 | |||
| Peptic ulcer | 11 | 9 | |||
| Acute poliomyelitis | 1 | 0 | Gastritis, Enteritis | 6 | 3 |
| Measles | 1 | 0 | Nephritis | 8 | 9 |
| Other infective diseases | 1 | 2 | Hyperplasia of prostate | 21 | 0 |
| Cancer of stomach | 15 | 24 | Pregnancy, etc. | 0 | 1 |
| Cancer of lung | 63 | 12 | Congenital malformation | 6 | 6 |
| Cancer of breast | 0 | 26 | |||
| Cancer of uterus | 0 | 17 | Other diseases | 66 | 92 |
| Cancer of other sites | 98 | 107 | Motor vehicle accidents | 10 | 5 |
| Leukæmia | 8 | 6 | |||
| Diabetes | 6 | 5 | Other accidents | 10 | 14 |
| Vascular diseases of nervous system | 112 | 134 | Suicide | 8 | 6 |
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | |||
| Coronary disease | 189 | 108 | |||
| Hypertension | 21 | 30 | |||
| Other circulatory diseases | 39 | 63 | Total | 964 | 961 |
The total number of deaths was 1,925. The figure for 1952 was
1,890, a marked fall on that of 2,094 in 1951 which was the largest number
of deaths recorded for this district.
The death rate was 8.8 per thousand population. The rates for the
the years 1944 and onwards were 9.3, 9.0, 8.6, 8.5, 8.9, 9.5 and 8.7.
The liability to death varies at different ages. Any changes in the
age distribution of a population then affects the death rate; similarly the
death rates of the sexes are not the same. To offset the effects of these
variations and so produce a rate which can be compared with that of
other districts, or that of the same district at other times, the Registrar
General calculates a comparative mortality index derived from the 1947
local civilian population estimates by age and sex, or recalculated on the
basis of the final 1951 census population. When the death rate figure is
multiplied by this, a figure is obtained which would have been the death
rate for the district had the age and sex distribution of the population
been that of the country as a whole in an agreed year. The index figure
is 114; the adjusted death rate is 10.3, a figure well below that of 11.4, for
the country as a whole.
1,292 deaths were due to diseases of the circulatory system, vascular
diseases of the central nervous system and to cancer, a percentage of 66
of the total deaths. In 1952 over two-thirds of the deaths in the country
as a whole were due to these groups of causes. The growth of this
fraction is due partly to the increased control over certain of the communicable
diseases which in other days accounted for deaths, and
the extending longevity of the population.