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 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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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 Registrar-General 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 | 11 | 1 | Hypertension | 24 | 33 |
| Other tuberculosis | 2 | 0 | Other heart disease | 76 | 175 |
| Syphilitic disease | 3 | 2 | Other circulatory disease. | 51 | 62 |
| Diphtheria | 0 | 0 | Influenza | 12 | 9 |
| Whooping cough | 0 | 0 | Pneumonia | 41 | 46 |
| Meningococcal infections. | 0 | 1 | Bronchitis | 59 | 21 |
| Acute poliomyelitis | 0 | 0 | Other respiratory disease | 10 | 6 |
| Measles | 0 | 0 | Peptic ulcer | 11 | 5 |
| Other infective diseases | 0 | 1 | Gastritis, Enteritis | 5 | I 5 |
| Cancer of stomach | 26 | 19 | Nephritis | 12 | |
| Cancer of lung | 80 | 17 | Hyperplasia of prostate . | 14 | 0 |
| Cancer of breast | 0 | 31 | Pregnancy, etc | 0 | 1 |
| Cancer of uterus | 0 | 12 | Congenital malformation. | 7 | 10 |
| Cancer of other sites | 127 | 113 | Other diseases | 56 | 67 |
| Leukaemia | 6 | 10 | Motor vehicle accidents . | 18 | 5 |
| Diabetes | 7 | 12 | Other accidents | 14 | 13 |
| Vascular diseases of nervous system | 90 | 148 | Suicide | 10 | 14 |
| Homicide | 0 | 2 | |||
| Coronary disease | 208 | 116 |
1,341 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 different ages
at the time of death: under one year 39, over one but under five years 5,
five to fourteen years 4, fifteen to twenty-four years 15, twenty-five to
forty-four years 79, forty-five to sixty-four years 533, sixty-five to seventyfour
years 469, seventy-five years and over 794.
Of these local deaths, 59 per cent, of those of males were persons
of 65 or over, 32 per cent, of 75 and over, and 85 and over 9 per cent.
The corresponding figures for females were 71, 50 and 17. Of the loca
residents who died last year, 46 per cent, had reached the age of 75 an
13 had reached the age of 85.
There has in this century been a remarkable increase in the expectation
of life. Compared with figures in 1901 to 1910 of 49 for men and 52 toi
women, those for the country in 1956 were 68 and 73. This increase is
largely the result of the saving of infant deaths and does not mean t a
people these days are living all that much longer; in fact the expectatio
of life of those of 65 has in this period increased for males by one yea
only and for females by three years.