London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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St Giles (Camden) 1874

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Giles District]

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belonged to St. George Bloomsbury, 104 to St. Giles South, and
61 to St. Giles North. The rates in the Sub-Districts are as
follows:-
Whole District 1 death in every 4'93 of all deaths and in every 192 of pop.
St. George Bloomsbury 1 do. do. 5'16 do. do. do. 287 do.
St. Giles South 1 do. do. 3 86 do. do. do. 116 do.
St. Giles North 1 do. do. 5'9 do. do. do. 270 do.
The Deatti-rate among Persons at all Ages.
(infants and persons 60 years of age and upwards being
excluded.)
27. The number of deaths among persons at all ages was
(after excluding the deaths in the Highgate Infirmary), 749.
Although these deaths are excluded from the Sub-Districts, they
are included in the Deaths for the whole District. The proportions
to be distributed among the Sub-Districts are as follow:โ€”192 to
St. George Bloomsbury, 344 to St. Giles South and 213 to St.
Giles North.
28. The ratios to the whole mortality, and to population, are
thus expressed:โ€”
Whole District 1 Death in every 66 of pop. = 15'1 per 1,000
St. George Bloomsbury 1 do. do. 93 do. = 10 76 do.
St. Giles South 1 do. do. 56 do. = 18- do.
St. Giles North 1 do. do. 77 do. = 12-91 do.
29. Here we see that St. George Bloomsbury had a low
Death-rate as compared with St. Giles South, but if we look at
the following table, giving the ratios to total deaths, we find the
conclusions reversed:โ€”
Whole District 1 in every 1-83 of all Deaths.
St. George Bloomsbury 1 do. 1'66 do.
St. Giles South 1 do. 1'84 do.
St. Giles North 1 do. 1'69 do.
30. The apparently low Death-rate (1 in 1.84) in St. Giles
South, as compared with Bloomsbury, is owing to its very high
Death-rate among infants and old people, and it therefore
illustrates the argument already stated (ยง 24).
31. I have thought it right to dwell with some minuteness on
this important branch of vital statistics, as there can be no doubt
that erroneous opinions may be promulgated of the sanitary
condition of a district, from an inaccurate method of calculating the
Death-rates.
32. The District of St. Giles may be regarded as a typical one,
it being constituted of the comparatively healthy parish of St.
George Bloomsbury, the medium Sub-District of St. Giles North,
and the destitute and unhealthy one of St. Giles South. All classes
of the community in the Metropolis may be, therefore, said to be
fairly represented by our District, which consequently affords
peculiar opportunities for determining the influence of physical and
social conditions upon mortality. This privilege of our position, in
a scientific point of view, makes it the more necessary that our data
should be accurately fixed.