London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Wimbledon 1908

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wimbledon]

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Eighty-two deaths of children under one year of age were
registered, and this infantile mortality is represented by a
ratio of 71 deaths per thousand registered births, a decrease
of 40 per thousand on the previous year, and 51 on the average
for the past ten years. The rate for England and Wales is 121.
Here, again, only on one occasion has the infantile mortality
rate fallen below that of this year, namely, in 1905, when the
rate was 69, or 2 below this year.
By the Zymotic death-rate we understand the number of
deaths per thousand of the population which are due to tho
seven common epidemic diseases : —(1) Small Pox ; (2) Measles ;
(•3) Scarlet Fever; (4) Diphtheria, including Membranoiis
Croup; (5) Whooping Cough; (6) Fever, including Typhus,
Typhoid and Ill-Defined Fevers; and (7) Diarrhoea.
These seven epidemic diseases may be divided into notifiable
and non-notifiable; and of the former, 9 were due to Diphtheria,
3 to Scarlet Fever, and 1 to Enteric Fever; and of the
latter, 4 were due to Whooping Cough, 8 to Diarrhœa, and
5 to Measles, making an aggregate of 30 deaths as against 69
last year, or equal to a Zymotic death-rate of .55 and 1.3 last
year per thousand of the population.
In addition to the deaths from Zymotic diseases, the principal
causes of death were as follows:—Pneumonia, 31; Bronchitis,
34; Cancer, 28; Phthisis, 37; other forms of Tuberculosis,
15; Heart Disease, 42; and Premature Births, 20.
For the purpose of comparison the following Table is
given, in advance, by the courtesy of Dr. Tatliam, M.D., of
Somerset House, from the Returns of the Registrar General: —

Vital Statistics for 1908 (Provisional Figures).

Annual Rates per 1,000 living.Infant Mortality of infants under 1 year per 1,000 Births.
Births.Deaths from all Causes.Death-rate seven chief Epidemic Diseases.
England and Wales26.514.71.29121
76 Great Towns27.014.91.59128
142 Smaller Towns26.014.01.26124
England and Wales, less the 218 Towns26.214.70.99110
WIMBLEDON21.078.3.5571