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18
Still Births
A total of 42 still births was registered during the year giving a still
birth rate of 13.1 per 1,000 live and still births, which compares favourably
with the rate of 14.0 for England and Wales.
Infant Mortality
During the year 39 (19 male and 20 female) infants living in the
district, or born to mothers ordinarily resident here, died under one year
of age. This was a decrease of 14 on the figure for 1967 and with 3,161
live births gives an infant mortality rate of 12.3 compared with that of
17.0 in 1967. The rate for England and Wales was 18.0.
Twenty-eight or approximately 72% of these infant deaths occurred
during the first four weeks of life giving neo-natal mortality rate of 8.9
per thousand live births. Twenty-four of these neo-natal deaths occurred
during the first week of life, prematurity being the main cause of death.
These early neo-natal deaths combined with the still births give a perinatal
mortality rate of 20.6 per thousand, live and still births, compared
with a rate of 23.9 for 1967.
Maternal Mortality
No deaths occurred during 1968 due to causes associated with
pregnancy and childbirth.
Deaths
The total number of deaths of residents of the Borough was 2,175
giving a death rate of 10.4 per 1,000 population. Liability to death varies
at different ages and also between the sexes. Accordingly, to offset the
effect of these variations and so produce a rate which can be used for
comparison purposes with other districts in the country as a whole, the
Registrar General calculates for each district a comparability factor which,
when applied to the crude death rate of 10.4 gives an adjusted death rate
of 10-8 which then compares with the death rate of 11.9 per 1,000 population
for England and Wales. The main causes of death were as follows:-
1. Diseases of the circulatory system 754
2. Cancer 504
3. Vascular diseases of the central nervous system 302
A total of 986 deaths registered were of people over 75 years of age,
i.e. 45 % of the total deaths registered in the district.
Consideration of the 'Cause of Death' tables will show that the
former short list of 36 causes (Registrar General's Abridged List) used
for analysis of mortality has been replaced by a new classification. This
new Cause List is basically the International Abbreviated List of 50
causes (B List) from the eighth revision of the International Classification
with some further sub-divisions which will make each section of the List
complete in itself. This will improve comparability with the existing
Abridged List and so facilitate the statistical study of disease phenomena.