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
Carshalton 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Carshalton]
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INFANT MORTALITY
The number of children who died in the first year of life numbered
fifteen which gives an infant mortality rate of 21.6 per thousand live births
compared with 15.4 in the year before and with 23.0 for England and Wales.
All but one of the fifteen deaths occurred in the first four weeks of life
and all but one were due to prematurity, congenital deformities and other
conditions peculiar to the newborn—the so-called "unavoidable" causes of
death.
TABLE
INFANT MORTALITY—WARD DISTRIBUTION.
| Ward | Infant Deaths | Rate per 1,000 Live Births |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||
| 1 | ||
| – | – | |
| Cause of death | Under 1 week | 1—2 weeks | 2—3 weeks | 3—4 weeks | Total under 4 weeks | 4 weeks and under 3 mths. | 3 mths. and under 6 mths. | 6 mths. and under 9 mths. | 9 mths. and under 12 mths. | Total deaths under 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| –– | – | – | – | –– | — | |||||
| – | – | – | – | –– | — | |||||
| – | – | – | – | |||||||
| – | — | – | – | — | ||||||
| – | – | — | – | – | ||||||
| – | – | — | – | – | — | |||||
| — | – | – |
MATERNAL MORTALITY
After twelve years without a death attributable to childbirth, one such
fatality occurred in 1957 in a mother of forty years who died from puerperal
septicaemia despite hospital treatment with modern therapeutic agents.
The infecting organism—staphylococcus aureus—is one of which many
strains are known to have required resistance to the anti-biotics in presentday
use.
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