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CHIGWELL URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL
To the Chairman and Members of the
Chigwell Urban District Council.
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
I have pleasure in presenting to you the Annual Report including
the report of the Senior Sanitary Inspector, for the year ending
31st December, 1955.
VITAL STATISTICS
The fall in the birth rate continued, and at 12.8 per thousand
of the population, the corrected rate was well below the average
for England and Wales (15.0).
No significant change occurred in the total (corrected) death
rate which, at 8.6 per thousand population compared well with
the national figure of 11.8 per thousand, for a population of the
same age and sex distribution. Diseases of the heart and circulatory
system and cancer continued to be the main causes of death.
Although total cancer deaths were the same as in the previous
year (80), there were twice as many deaths from cancer of the
lung and bronchus (25) as in 1954 (13). It is now widely known
that heavy smoking, especially of cigarettes, may predispose to
cancer of the lung, but this is certainly not the whole story behind
the recent increased incidence; air-pollution also undoubtedly has
a part to play, as rural areas fare better than towns and industrial
areas in this respect.
In addition to 3 fatal road accidents, 9 other accidental deaths
occurred—an unusually high figure for this District. At least 6 of
these might be considered preventable, namely:
misadventure at work 3
fall downstairs (female aged 58) 1
coal-tar poisoning (age 3 years) 1
suffocation of a new bom infant 1
Total 6
Total accidents (12) caused more deaths than tuberculosis (10).
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
There were 28 cases of poliomyelitis during the year, of which
17 were paralytic (including one fatality which occurred at
Torquay during a holiday), and 11 were non-paralytic.
An epidemic of mild measles occurred during the Spring; only
13 of the 1,176 cases required hospital treatment, and there were
no deaths.
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