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CAUSES OF DEATH.
There were 710 deaths during the year, of whom 371 were
male and 339 female.
Disease of the heart, including coronary disease and
hypertension with heart disease account for 232 of the 710
deaths, the largest single cause. Cancer of all forms comes next
with 147 deaths, that is one in every five deaths was due to
cancer. Tuberculosis was responsible for only 16 (the lowest
figure since 1928, and at 0.22 per thousand population the
lowest rate ever recorded for the district).
What is called colloquially a " stroke " accounted for 80
deaths and it is an interesting fact which has been mentioned,
perhaps, before that of the 80 deaths due to " stroke " there was
a preponderance of females, 47 as against 33, whereas coronary
disease seems mainly to affect men: out of 93, 60 were males
and only about half as many, 33, were women.
Cancer of the lung, which there is reason to believe is
showing significant increase, was responsible for 30 deaths, of
whom only five were in women. It has been suggested that
smoking may be a contributory factor in the causation of this
disease and the medical profession has been circularised to
complete a questionnaire as to the extent of this habit among its
members. Certain mineral oils have been suspected of being
carcinogenetic and it would be of interest to know whether the
City worker constantly inhaling incompletely burnt diesel oil
fume is more liable than the countryman who it is reasonable
to assume, up to the present at any rate, is not so exposed.
It will be seen from Table, V, page 22, that there were 15
deaths of residents from violence, one a motor vehicle accident,
3 suicides and 11 other accidents. Unfortunately the amendment
of the classification precludes the extraction from the
Registrar General's list of causes, of the deaths from road
traffic accidents which was shown in graph form last year. The
graph showing the suicide trend is reproduced on page 23.
Reference to page 19 gives details of 24 deaths from violent
causes occurring in the district.
Ulcer of the stomach and duodenum accounted for 7 deaths,
of whom only one was female. The sex distribution and the
number follows the pattern of previous years.
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