[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall].

  • Southall (London, England). Borough Council.
Date:
[1964?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/74 (page 8)
    VITAL STATISTICS Total Deaths, 776 (Males 370; Females 406) Crude Death Rate, 14-38 For extracts from vital statistics and causes of death, see Appendix, Tables I, II and III Deaths and Death Rate The death rate, i.e. the number of deaths per 1,000 total population, rose in 1963 to a very high figure, but this figure is calculated on an estimated population lower than that of last year. The corrected death rate (see below) is lower than in 1962. Below is shown the comparative figures for the past ten years. Year Crude Death Rate 1954 12.16 1955 11.92 1956 12.25 1957 13.02 1958 12.04 1959 12.12 1960 13.15 1961 13.63 1962 13.60 1963 14.38 From Table II it will be seen that the proportion of men dying over the age of 65 is 62% and those over the age of 75—32%; among women the proportions are 76% over 65 and 54% over 75. In looking at these figures, it is interesting to think that only 120 years ago—in 1844, the expectation of life was 40 years for males and 42 years for females. The principal causes of death were cancer, disease of the circulation other than coronary, heart disease, and coronary disease, in that order. The figure for cancer deaths rose steeply from 118 in 1960 to 148 in 1961 but in 1962 dropped to 138 then in 1963 fell to 130. Lung cancer accounted for 35 of these (31 male, 4 female)—there were 44 in 1961 and 36 in 1962: the highest number of cancer deaths in 1963 occurred in the alimentary tract, i.e. 38 consisting of 3 sited in the oesophagus, 13 in the stomach, 22 in the intestine. There were no deaths from whooping cough, diphtheria or poliomyelitis. Eleven deaths were attributed to influenza. There were three deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis. The number of outside deaths, i.e. of Southall residents who died in Hillingdon Hospital, other Middlesex hospitals and hospitals outside the County boundaries, including various London hospitals, was 328 (males 185, females 143). Deaths of institution inmates (including patients from Southall addresses and from outside areas) number as follows: St. Bernard's Hospital, 229 (males 74 and females 155); Mount Pleasant Hospital, 23 (males 8 and females 15); Southall-Norwood Hospital, 12 (males 8 and females 4); in addition 2 deaths (both male) occurred of persons belonging to other districts. In 1963, nine people died as the result of motor vehicle accidents, as compared with three in 1962. The total number of deaths from violent causes was recorded as 38 in 1963 as compared with 24 in 1962. To make an approximate allowance for the way in which the sex and age distribution of the local population differs from that of England and Wales as a whole, the crude death rate is multiplied by a comparability factor supplied by the Registrar-General. This, then, gives a corrected death rate of 12.08 (12-24 in 1962) compared with the rate for England and Wales as a whole, which was 12.2. Southall's figure is therefore below the national average, for the first time since 1959. For distribution of deaths in the various wards, see Appendix, Table IV. 8