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 1960
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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13
The death rate was 9.4 per thousand population. The rates for the
last five years were 8.2, 8.8, 8.9, 9.2 and 9.7. The rate for the country
as a whole was 11.-5.
Liability to death varies at different ages. Any changes in the agedistribution
of a population then affect the death rate. In the same
way 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 118; the adjusted
rate is 11 1.
The following is the Registrar-General's abridged list of causes of death in this district:—
| Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resp. tuberculosis | 6 | 4 | Hypertension | 17 | 30 |
| Other tuberculosis | 2 | — | Other heart disease | 73 | 147 |
| Syphilitic disease | 2 | — | Other circulatory disease | 54 | 72 |
| Diphtheria | — | — | Influenza | 1 | 1 |
| Whooping Cough | — | — | Pneumonia | 46 | 48 |
| Meningococcal infectio | — | — | Bronchitis | 66 | 33 |
| Acute poliomyelitis | — | — | Other respiratory disease | 5 | 6 |
| Measles | — | — | Peptic Ulcer | 14 | 10 |
| Other infective diseases | 2 | 4 | Gastritis, enteritis | 2 | 11 |
| Cancer of stomach | 42 | 27 | Nephritis | 5 | 6 |
| Cancer of lung .. | 118 | 17 | Hyperplasia of prostate | 15 | — |
| Cancer of breast | — | 47 | Pregnancy, etc. | — | 1 |
| Cancer of uterus | — | 22 | Congenital malformation | 7 | 6 |
| Cancer of other sites | 123 | 97 | Other diseases | 78 | 81 |
| Leukaemia | 6 | 1 | Motor vehicle accidents 11 | 10 | |
| Diabetes | 3 | 7 | Other accidents | 16 | 17 |
| Vascular diseases of ne vous system | 91 | 140 | Suicide | 9 | 7 |
| Coronary disease | 236 | 122 | 1 051 | 975 | |
1,479 deaths were due to diseases of the circulatory system, vascular
diseases of the central nervous system and to cancer, a percentage of
seventy-three of the total deaths.
The following are the numbers of persons who were of different ages
at the time of death: under one year, 58; over one but under five years,
seven; five to fourteen years, thirteen; fifteen twenty-four years, seventeen;
twenty-five to forty four years, sixty-eight forty five to sixty-four years,
526; sixty-five to seventy-four years. 457; seventy-five years and over, 873.
Of these local deaths, sixty per cent of those ot males were of persons
of sixty-five or over, thirty per cent of seventy-five and over, and eightyfive
and over nine per cent. The corresponding figures for females were
seventy-five, fifty-four and nineteen. Of the local residents who died last
year forty-three per cent had reached the age of seventy-five, and fourteen
per cent had reached the age of eighty-five.