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
West Ham 1923
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]
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Tuberculosis.
The following table, in the form desired by the Ministry of Health, sets out the number of notified cases of Tuberculosis and the number of deaths during the year at certain age periods, distinguishing separately the pulmonary and non-pulmonary forms, males and females:—
| Age Periods. | New Cases. | Deaths. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary. | No n-pulmonary | Pulmonary. | Non-pulmonary. | |||||
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | |
| 0 | 1 | .. | 4 | 2 | .. | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1 | 5 | 3 | 22 | 19 | 3 | .. | 15 | 9 |
| 5 | 63 | 60 | 30 | 24 | .. | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 10 | 39 | 55 | 17 | 19 | .. | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| 15 | 41 | 47 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 20 | 3 | 3 |
| 20 | 45 | 57 | 4 | 8 | 21 | 32 | 4 | 3 |
| 25 | 70 | 58 | 5 | 5 | 33 | 22 | 4 | 2 |
| 35 | 70 | 38 | 2 | 1 | 48 | 21 | 1 | 3 |
| 45 | 49 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 20 | .. | 2 |
| 55 | 19 | 13 | 1 | .. | 20 | 6 | .. | .. |
| 65 and upwards | 7 | 2 | .. | 1 | 5 | 4 | .. | .. |
| Total | 409 | 358 | 99 | 90 | 164 | 135 | 38 | 33 |
Included in the above new cases are 17 pulmonary males,
1(3 pulmonary females, 15 non-pulmonary males and 17 nonpulmonary
females, which were not notified but were discovered
from the returns of the Registrars of Births and Deaths,
showing that 17 per cent. of the deaths registered as due to
Tuberculosis were not notified. Early in the year the Ministry
of Health by a special circular letter called the attention of
medical practitioners to the statutory duty of notification under
the Regulations of 1912. Enquiries made into cases of nonnotification
elicited information either that the certifying doctor
had reason to believe the case had been notified before the
patient entered the Institution in which he died, or that he had
only been called in to attend the patient a short time before
death occurred.
The total number of cases of Tuberculosis coming to the
knowledge of the Medical Officer of Health during the year was
956, of which 767 were pulmonary cases and 189 tuberculosis of
other organs. The deaths due to this disease numbered 370,
which is the same number as the deaths of last year. The
tubercular death-rate for the year, however, was less, being 1.17
per 1,000.