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
Heston and Isleworth 1905
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Heston and Isleworth]
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20
From the above figures the chances of living for any infant born in the
district can be calculated, but not too much weight should be attached to
statistics for one year only. It is obvious, however, that its chances are
least in the first week, and that if it survives after the first month its prospect
is very materially improved.
The following table gives the ratio of deaths under 12 months to deaths at all ages from the year 1894:—
| Year. | Percentage. |
|---|---|
| 1894 | 28.81 |
| 1895 | 22.45 |
| 1896 | 28.95 |
| 1897 | 24.61 |
| 1898 | 31.19 |
| 1899 | 27.32 |
| 1900 | 24.00 |
| 1901 | 28.75 |
| 1902 | 27.86 |
| 1903 | 22.75 |
| 1904 | 30.36 |
| 1905 | 27.65 |
Causes of Infantile Deaths. The various causes from which the
infants died are set out in both Table IV. and Table V. As usual, Diarrhoea
was the disease responsible for the greatest number of deaths, but the number
was much less than in the previous year. The number dying from this
cause was 32, or rather more than a quarter of all the infant deaths, compared
with 58, or 34.7 per cent., in 1904.
19 deaths were attributed to "Premature Birth," a cause of death nearly
as unsatisfactory as "Marasmus" Debility or "Atrophy." It is perhaps
not right to draw any conclusions from it, but it is at least curious that so
many infants should have come into the world before the termination of the
usual period of gestation, and this number of 19 does not, of course, include
any children bom prematurely who managed to survive over the first 12