View report page

16
Puerperal Pyrexia
Hiring the year the form of notification was amended to include information
of the cause of pyrexia if known.
One case of puerperal pyrexia was notified during the year.
Cancer
There were 1,187 deaths in the borough from all causes, and of these 251
or 21% were due to cancer.
In considering the sexes male deaths were 640 with 139 from cancer, and
female deaths were 547 with 112 from cancer.

Cancer is a disease which is taking an ever increasing toll of the
community. Figures for the past few years have shown a steady rise in the
number of deaths from this cause. If, however, the death rates per 1,000 of
the population over the past fifty years are examined, the increase in
mortality is striking - from 0.42 per 1,000 in 1904 to 2.04 per 1,000 in 1954.
It is probable that some of this increase is due to improved diagnosis
and an ageing population. Further, the figures for earlier years may not be
strictly comparable with those of later years owing to the adoption of the
International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of
Death in 1948. However, bearing in mind all these facts, there would appear
to have been a real increase in the incidence of cancer over the past halfcentury,
and it is not unreasonable to suppose that this is in some way
associated with the changing environment and habits of individuals and the
community over that period.

* Population depleted of young healthy adults on war service and
evacuated children, resulting in higher proportion of population in age groups
where cancer deaths usually occur.