View report page

3
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
TOWN HALL, HACKNEY, E. 8,
July, 1958
To His Worship the Mayor and to the Aldermen and
Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the health and sanitary
circumstances of the Borough for the year 1957. This Report is the sixth
which it has been my privilege to present, and is the hundred and second in the
series of health reports submitted to the Local Authority.
Statistics. The mid-year population of the Borough as estimated by the
Registrar General was 165,000 persons, 800 less than the previous year. Deaths
from all causes totalled 1.818 as compared with 1,845 in 1956; there were 994
male deaths and 824 female deaths The crude death rate per thousand of the
population was 11.02, and the rate for England and Wales 11.5. The corrected
Hackney death rate after the application of the "area comparability factor" of
1.11 was 12.23; this factor takes into account the age and sex distribution of
the population, and the corrected rate is, therefore, a more accurate one for
comparison with other areas.
The total number of live births was 2,614 (2,470 in 1956) giving a birth
rate of 15.84 per thousand of the population, as compared with a rate of 16.1
for England and Wales. The corrected rate for Hackney after applying the
appropriate "area comparability factor" of 0.93 was 14.73. The number of
deaths of infants under one year was 53, giving an infantile mortality rate per
thousand live births of 20.27; the rate for England and Wales was 23.1
There was one death from causes associated with pregnancy giving a maternal
mortality rate of 0.37 as compared with a rate of 0,47 for England and Wales.
Malignant disease. There was a total of 416 deaths from malignant disease in
all sites, an increase of 35 on the previous year, giving a rate of 2.52 per
thousand of the population, as compared with a rate of 2.09 for England and
Wales. Malignant disease of the lung and bronchus accounted for 112 deaths,
as compared with 84 in 1956, resulting in a rate of 0.68 per thousand of the
population for Hackney: the corresponding rate for England and Wales was 0.43.
Accidental deaths. Motor vehicle accidents were responsible for 21 deaths,
six more than in the previous year. All other types of accidents accounted
for 32 deaths, and five of these were children under the age of 15 years.
Accidents in the home resulted in twelve deaths, and seven of these were
persons aged 60 years and over.
Infectious disease. There was no outbreak of serious infectious disease. Of
the total number of 2,960 notifications received 2,254 related to measles, 179
to whooping cough, 129 to dysentery, 119 to puerperal pyrexia and 90 to scarlet
fever, Other than puerperal pyrexia, of which 117 cases occurred in hospital,
some 206 cases of infectious disease were admitted to hospital for treatment.
The diagnosis of poliomyelitis was confirmed in ten cases, five of which were
of the paralytic type and five of the non paralytic type. Vaccination against
poliomyelitis is the responsibility of the County Council as Local Health
Authority, and I am informed that some 4,086 children were vaccinated during
the year There were nine deaths in notified cases of infectious disease, and
of these five were due to pneumonia, one to scarlet fever, one to meningococcal
infection, and two were from encephalitis complicating chicken pox.