London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Camden 1967
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camden]
This page requires JavaScript
2.3.2
Death rates were:-
| Camden | England and Wales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1968 | |
| Infant deaths per 1,000 live births | 19 | 22.9 | 20 | 20 | 18 |
| Legitimate infant deaths per 1,000 legitimate live births | 16.7 | 20.5 | 21.9 | 20.4 | - |
| Illegitimate infant deaths per 1,000 illegitimate live births | 34.9 | 34.5 | 14.9 | 19.3 | - |
| Neo-natal mortality (under 4 weeks) rate per 1,000 live births | 13.6 | 15.0 | 13.3 | 12.4 | 12.3 |
| Early neo-natal mortality rate (under 1 week) per 1,000 live births | 11.4 | 13.4 | 11.3 | 11.1 | 10.5 |
| Perinatal mortality rate (still births and deaths under 1 week) per 1,000 total live or still births | 28 | 26 | 24 | 25 | 25 |
MORTALITY
2.4.1 Only two maternal deaths occurred in 1967 (0.6 per 1,000 total births, compared
with 0.8 in 1966), and only one maternal death - due to abortion - was recorded in 1968,
(0.3 per 1,000 total births).
2.4.2 Deaths are analysed according to age, cause and sex in Tables la and lb.
Total deaths in 1967 number 2,370, a crude rate of 10.0 per 1,000 population, and in
1968 numbered 2,503, a crude rate of 10.8, which adjusted by an area comparability
factor gives a standardized rate of 11.99. The national death rate was 10.1 in 1967 and
11.9 in 1968.
2.4.3 Of the 2,370 total deaths in 1967, 713 were due to diseases of the heart, two
more than in 1966. 548 deaths were attributed to cancer, a marked reduction from the
peak figures of 608 and 605 experienced in the previous two years. Deaths attributed to
cancer of the lung and bronchus were slightly lower (166) than in the previous three
years, when the totals were respectively 170, 180 and 181. This improvement reflects
the lower mortality from these causes among men age 55 to 64 years. The main reduction
in deaths from cancer was in category 14 of the table - i.e. "other malignant and lymphatic
neoplasms". Bronchitis and pneumonia deaths (277), vascular lesions of the central
nervous system (227) and other circulatory diseases (105) were next in order of magnitude
but were at lower levels than in the two previous years.
2.4.4 Revision, by the Registrar General's Office, of the form of classification and
tabulation of deaths does not allow exact comparison of figures for 1968 with the tables
of earlier years.
CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE
3.1.1 Although the number of cases of serious infectious disease was low in both
1967 and 1968, with again no case of diphtheria, poliomyelitis or smallpox, the control
of infectious disease remains an important duty of the Health Department. Vaccination
and immunisation give a great measure of protection against a number of serious
diseases, but with the large movement of population in Camden the number of protected
always falls below what is desirable. In this era of rapid transport a person can travel
from an infected area to this country within - and often well within - the incubation
period of most of the infectious diseases and there is thus always the possibility that
the importation of a single case of disease may start an epidemic.
13