View report page

17
Non-Infectious Disease
Appendix 5 (Registrar General's Short List of Deaths and
Causes) shows that of the 2,811 deaths of Redbridge residents
1,282 were due to diseases of the heart and circulation and
624 to cancer.
Coronary
Disease and
Cancer
520 persons died from coronary disease and angina, a fall
compared to last year but still a substantial cause of death in
the middle age group. Cancer was responsible for 624 deaths,
156 of them cancer of the lung. There were 94 deaths from
female cancers, 71 of the breast and 23 of the uterus.
Coronary disease is probably preventable to a large extent
by suitable food habits, exercise, and moderation in cigarette
smoking. Lung cancer incidence bears a direct relationship to
the number of cigarettes smoked and both breast and uterine
cancers give premonitory symptoms in the early treatable
stages. It is to this group of diseases that our health education
campaign is being directed.
Lung cancer particularly is a good example of self-inflicted
disease. The relative risks of a man dying from lung cancer
between the ages of 35 and 74 are 1 in 300 if he is a nonsmoker
but 1 in 14 if he smokes 25 or more cigarettes a day.
Such a smoker has a 1 in 9 chance of dying from lung cancer
between the ages of 35 and 84. (Appendix 6).
The majority of people who develop lung cancer smoke for
20 — 40 years before the disease becomes apparent, but there
is no evidence of a safe smoking limit below which there is no
risk. There is, however, evidence of a progressive and significant
fall in the death rate of ex-smokers.
Our main efforts in Health Education on cigarette smoking
are directed towards school children. This is the most promising
line of attack, although the result of such strenuous efforts
may not be seen for another 30 years. It seems apparent that
efforts directed towards adult smokers have little chance of
success and all that we can do is to place the facts before
them. It must be admitted that many adults wishing to give up
smoking are strengthened in their resolve by the attitude of
those of their children who have absorbed the health education
in school. This is a welcome fringe benefit but not the main
object of the exercise, which is to get children to regard themselves
as unwelcomely different if they smoke.
Accidents
66 people died in accidents, 22 of these on the road. Only
2 children under the age of 15 died accidentally.