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
Hackney 1874
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]
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amongst those who were above 65 years of age, points out the
great care which should be used by all elderly people whenever
cold weather sets in. The proportion of deaths of children under
1 year old was also in excess to a small extent, as compared with
those between 1 and 5, as there were 87 deaths of children under
1 year during the cold period to 71 during the warm; and 65 of
children between 1 and 5 years old during the cold to 56 during
the temperate period.
I now purpose to ascertain the effect of the cold and warm
weather in the Mortality from different cause3.
TABLE VIII.
Hackney.—Deaths in Seven Warm and Seven Cold Weeks
from various diseases.
| Totals. | Percentage. | No. to 100 in warm period. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm. | Cold. | Warm. | Cold | ||
| Zymotic | 62 | 48 | 19.6 | 10.0 | 7.7 |
| Tubarcular | 44 | 46 | 13.9 | 96 | 10.4 |
| Nervous | 33 | 54 | 10.4 | 11.3 | 167 |
| Circulatory | 28 | 29 | 8.8 | 6.1 | 10.4 |
| Respiratory | 48 | 154 | 15.1 | 32.2 | 32.1 |
| Premature Birth | 25 | 23 | 7.9 | 4.8 | 9.2 |
| Old Age | 18 | 38 | 57 | 80 | 21.1 |
| Other Causes | 59 | 86 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 14.0 |
It will be seen that 62 deaths happened from Zyrcotic
diseases in the seven warm weeks against only 48 in the cold,
which would be at the rate of only 7.7 deaths in the cold to each
10 in the warm weeks, so that the effect of the cold weather was
to reduce very largely the mortality from epidemic diseases.
The number of deaths from Tubercular diseases was almost