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 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]
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Deaths in wards. The number of deaths and the death
rates from all causes in the wards of the borough are given in
Table XV. The table also shows the allocation of infant deaths
by sex to the different wards. The ward with the highest general
death rate was Upton (14.4), while the lowest rate was given by
Ordnance ward (9.7). The difference between the highest and the
lowest rates (4.7) was somewhat greater than the corresponding
difference for the year 1936 (3.9).
Deaths in quarters. The quarterly death rates from all
causes are shown in Table XVI. The annual death rate has not
varied much in this period, but more variation is shown in the
quarterly rates. In the last ten years the highest rate has always
occurred in the first quarter and the lowest in the third; in certain
years the rate for the first quarter has been double that for the
third quarter of the same year.
T able XVI.
D eath rate in quarters.
| Year. | I. | II. | III. | IV. | Whole year. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | 13.4 | 10.4 | 9.2 | 10.6 | 10.9 |
| 1929 | 21 .7 | 10.0 | 8.1 | 11.4 | 12.8 |
| 1930 | 13.2 | 10.3 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 10.8 |
| 1931 | 16.1 | 9.6 | 8-3 | 11.8 | 11.4 |
| 1932 | 15.4 | 10.4 | 9.1 | 11.0 | 11.5 |
| 1933 | 17.3 | 10.2 | 8.4 | 11.4 | 11.8 |
| 1934 | 16.2 | 11.3 | 8.5 | 10.8 | 11.7 |
| 1935 | 12.2 | 11.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 10.8 |
| 1936 | 14.3 | 10.5 | 9.6 | 12.2 | 11.6 |
| 1937 | 15.9 | 11.4 | 8.8 | 12.5 | 12.0 |
Deaths at ages. The actual number of deaths which took
place at different periods of life are set out for each year since
1921 in Table XVII. In Table XVIII. the number of deaths in
each age group is expressed as a percentage of the total number
of deaths in that year. Consideration of this latter table brings
out certain features which are perhaps seen here more clearly than
in many other areas. The most interesting change is a decrease
in the proportion of deaths which occur at the threshold of life,
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