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 1929
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]
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The following table 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. | Non-pulmonary. | Pulmonary. | Non-pulmonary. | |||||
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | |
| 0 | … | 1 | 1 | 2 | … | … | 2 | 4 |
| 1 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 7 | … | 1 | 7 | 4 |
| 5 | 26 | 19 | 17 | 13 | … | … | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | 13 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 15 | 28 | 31 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 24 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | 46 | 63 | 4 | 5 | 27 | 30 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 | 68 | 50 | 4 | 1 | 32 | 16 | 2 | 1 |
| 35 | 56 | 30 | 5 | … | 35 | 18 | 2 | 2 |
| 45 | 46 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 38 | 13 | 1 | 1 |
| 55 | 16 | 17 | … | 1 | 24 | 9 | 1 | … |
| 65 and upwards | 6 | 2 | … | … | 9 | 4 | … | 1 |
| Totals | 312 | 236 | 60 | 40 | 181 | 120 | 21 | 24 |
Included in the above new cases are 12 pulmonary males, 25
pulmonary females, 2 non-pulmonary males, and 4 non-pulmonary
females, which were unnotified, but were discovered from the
returns of the Registrar of Birth and Deaths, showing that 8.0 per
cent. of the deaths registered as clue to Tuberculosis had not been
notified during life.
The following table sets out the percentage of deaths from tuberculosis (not notified during life) for the years 1923-1920 inclusive:—
| 1923 | 17.0 | 1927 | 12.03 |
| 1924 | 10.5 | 1928 | 7.1 |
| 1925 | 11.2 | 1929 | 8.0 |
| 1926 | 12.8 |
In this connection many deaths notified as having been due to
tuberculosis are frequently so notified because the case had at
some time or other suffered from this complaint, the actual cause
of death often being due to some intercurrent disease.
The total number of fresh cases of Tuberculosis coming to
my knowledge was 648, of which 548 were pulmonary cases. The
deaths due to this disease numbered 346, giving a death rate of
1.1 per 1,000.
The death rate from respiratory Phthisis being 0.97, and from
other forms 0.14 per 1,000 of the population.
The reports of the Tuberculosis Officer and of the Medical
Superintendent of Dagenham Sanatorium will be found on pages
88 to 98.
87