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 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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10
The death rate was 9.7 per thousand population. The rates for the
last five years were 8.8, 8.2, 8.8, 8.9 and 9.2. The rate for the country
as a whole was 11.6.
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 1.18; the adjusted rate is 11.5.
The following is the Registrar-General's abridged list of causes of death in this district:—
| Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resp. tuberculosis | 5 | 1 | Hypertension | 21 | 34 |
| Other tuberculosis | — | — | Other heart disease | 77 | 140 |
| Syphilitic disease | 3 | 2 | Other circulatory disease | 47 | 71 |
| Diphtheria | — | — | Influenza | 19 | 1 |
| Whooping Cough | — | — | Pneumonia | 59 | 62 |
| Meningococcal Infections | — | — | Bronchitis | 75 | 31 |
| Acute poliomyelitis | — | — | Other respiratory disease | 14 | 6 |
| Measles | — | 1 | Peptic Ulcer | 14 | 9 |
| Other infective diseases | 3 | 4 | Gastritis, enteritis | 3 | 4 |
| Cancer of stomach | 25 | 21 | Nephritis | 6 | 5 |
| Cancer of lung | 91 | 13 | Hyperplasia of prostate | 17 | — |
| Cancer of breast | — | 55 | Pregnancy, etc. | — | — |
| Cancer of uterus | — | 10 | Congenital malformation | 7 | 10 |
| Cancer of other sites | 115 | 114 | Other diseases | 62 | 71 |
| Leukaemia | 5 | 6 | Motor vehicle accidents | 20 | 16 |
| Diabetes | 7 | 5 | Other accidents | 16 | 17 |
| Vascular diseases of nerv ous system | 94 | 160 | Suicide | 10 | 22 |
| 1,057 | 1,021 | ||||
| Coronary disease | 242 | 137 | |||
1,437 deaths were due to diseases of the circulatory system, vascular
diseases of the central nervous system and to cancer, a percentage of
seventy of the total deaths.
The following are the numbers of persons who were of different
ages at the time of death: under one year, 44; over one but under five
years 9; five to fourteen years 14; fifteen to twenty-four years, 12;
twenty-five to forty-four years, 62; forty-five to sixty-four years, 576,
sixty-five to seventy-four years, 507; seventy-five years and over, 852.
Of these local deaths, 60 per cent of those of males were persons
of sixty-five or over, 30 per cent of seventy-five and over, and eighty-five
and over 9 per cent. The corresponding figures for females were 72, 50 an
11. Of the local residents who died last year, 41 per cent had reached the
age of 75, and 14 per cent had reached the age of 85.