View report page

76
NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS
2,078 births (688 of which belonged to other areas) were
notified during the year under the Public Health Act, 1936.
Notifications were received as follows: Doctors, 334; Midwives,
1,739; Others, 5.
Also included are 36 still-births, 7 of which belonged to other
areas. Of the total, 13 occurred outside the Borough.
NEO-NATAL MORTALITY
The number of infants dying under one month during 1958
was 11, i.e. a rate of 8.4 per 1,000 live births.

The death rates of infants under one year of age per 1,000
live births in Walthamstow when calculated on the totals given
by the Registrar-General are therefore:—
Legitimate, 15.4; Illegitimate, Nil; Total, 15.4.
Of the 20 deaths, 11 occurred in the first month of life, including
9 in the first week, the age group distribution being as under:—
Hours Day Week Week Mth. Mth. Mth. Mth. Mth. Mth. Mth. Mth. Mih.
0—24 1—1 1—1 1—3 3—6 6—9 9—12
4 5 2 3 2 1 3
Two deaths occurred at home and eighteen in hospitals, and
the principal causes of death were as follows:—
Congenital Abnormalities, 8; Prematurity, 6 (including
2 cases of associated birth injury); Acute Pulmonary
Conditions, 5; accidental death 1.
Although the total numbers of infant deaths are now,
fortunately, so low as largely to invalidate comparison between
annual figures, it is gratifying to note that the preventative causes
are being progressively eliminated. Only the single accidental
death could be regarded as preventable
It is pleasing to note also that prematurity was the chief cause
in only six deaths in 1958 as against sixteen in 1957, since this may
reflect continuing improvement in ante-natal care. Congenital
abnormalities now account for the greater number of individual
infant deaths, but so far no means of their prevention has been
discovered.