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 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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1,275 persons died in this district in 1956. This figure includes
those members of the Armed Forces stationed here. Of these 199 were
of persons who were not resident in the area. 100 deaths took place in
the various hospitals and 38 in the private nursing homes.
Of the 823 deaths of the local residents which occurred outside the
district, most took place in institutions, 352 being at the Edgware General
Hospital. 206 deaths took place in hospitals just outside the district,
including 5 in nearby isolation hospitals, and 169 in various London
hospitals. 17 deaths were of infants born in hospitals outside the district.
The total number of deaths was 1,903. The figure for 1955 was
1,945 and for 1954 was 1,790. The 2,094 of 1951 was the largest number
of deaths recorded for this district.
The death rate was 8.8 per thousand population. The rates for the
last four years were 8.9, 8.7, 8.8 and 8.2.
Liability to death varies at different ages. Any changes in the agedistribution
of a population then affect 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 RegistrarGeneral
calculates a comparative mortality index based on the 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 1951. The index figure is 1.20; the adjusted rate
is 10.5 a figure well below that of 11.7 for the country as a whole.
The following is the Registrar-General's abridged list of causes of death in this district:—
| Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resp. tuberculosis | 7 | 6 | Hypertension | 11 | 35 |
| Other tuberculosis | 1 | 2 | Other heart disease | 86 | 138 |
| Syphilitic disease | 6 | 0 | Other circulatory disease | 48 | 52 |
| Diphtheria | 0 | 0 | Influenza | 1 | 4 |
| Whooping cough | 0 | 0 | Pneumonia | 43 | 46 |
| Meningococcal infections | 0 | 0 | Bronchitis | 65 | 41 |
| Acute poliomyelitis | 0 | 0 | Other respiratory disease | 11 | 5 |
| Measles | 0 | 0 | Peptic ulcer | 21 | |
| Other infective diseases | 1 | 6 | Gastritis, Enteritis | 3 | 4 |
| Cancer of stomach | 32 | 26 | Nephritis | 10 | 7 |
| Cancer of lung | 65 | 16 | Hyperplasia of prostate | 15 | 0 |
| Cancer of breast | 1 | 37 | Pregnancy, etc. | 0 | 2 |
| Cancer of uterus | 0 | 21 | Congenital malformation | 12 | 8 |
| Cancer of other sites | 111 | 96 | Other diseases | 65 | |
| Leukaemia | 3 | 5 | Motor vehicle accidents | 13 | |
| Diabetes | 6 | 5 | Other accidents | 18 | 14 |
| Vascular diseases of nervous system | 87 | 151 | Suicide | 18 | 17 |
| Homicide | 0 | 1 | |||
| Coronary disease | 164 | 121 |
1,313 deaths were due to diseases of the circulatory system, vascular
diseases of the central nervous system and to cancer, a percentage of 69
of the total deaths.
The following are the numbers of persons who were of
ages at the time of death; under one year 59, over one but under
years 11, five to fourteen years 14, fifteen to twenty-four years 12, twenty-