[Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Brighton County Borough.

  • Brighton (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Brighton County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/182 (page 9)
    INFANTILE MORTALITY AND INCOME. A special inquiry has been made as to the infantile mortality of the various social classes. The streets of Brighton were placed in four groups according to the class of person who resided in them. Thus streets in Group I. contained the poorest families ; streets in Group II., unskilled workers and their families ; streets in Group III., artizans ; streets in Group IV., the remainder of the population, including the families of traders, business men and the well-to- do. The births and deaths of legitimate infants belonging to the four classes of streets were then added up, the deaths being distributed under the headings of Table IV, of the Local Government Board. The illegitimate births and deaths were placed in a class by themselves. The inquiry included all births and deaths occurring in the years 1901 to 1912 inclusive. The main facts are included in the table on the page opposite. Those who wish to study the subject further should consult the tables on pages 79-83. The infantile mortality varies from 188 in illegitimates and 144 in the poorest group (Group I.) to 67 in the well-to-do group (Group IV). This shows how much there is still to accomplish in the lessening of infantile mortality. MORTALITY IN FIRST WEEK OF LIFE. In the first part of table the deaths are classed according to age at the time of death. When the infantile mortality from all causes in the first week is considered, very little difference is found between the richer and poorer .classes—thus the figures, going from the illegitimate and the poorest upwards, are 24-6, 204, 2L6, 24*3 and 20*5. Similarly, when the deaths from prematurity, atrophy and malformation, which are the common causes of deaths in the first month, and which affect the illegitimates most severely, are taken, we find that in the first week of life (see 2nd part of the table) the mortality in all classes of the population is about equal — thus in the illegitimate and poorest classes the figures are 16*6 and 14’8, whilst Groups II., III. and IV. follow with mortalities of 17*0, 200 and 159. This would seem to point to the very important conclusion that in the first week of life all children, to whatever class they belong and whether they are legitimate or illegitimate, are equally healthy and with equal care have equal chances of survival. If this be so, then the better feeding, the better housing, the freeing of the mother from manual work and anxiety before the birth of the child has no effect upon the health of the child at birth. At the moment the question of the effect of the conditions mentioned above on the secretion of milk by the mother and on her general health are not under consideration. B