[Report 1957] / Medical Officer of Health, Richmond (Yorkshire) R.D.C.

  • Richmond (North Yorkshire, England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1957
Catalogue details

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

Credit: [Report 1957] / Medical Officer of Health, Richmond (Yorkshire) R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    3/24 (page 1)
    To the Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Richmond Rural District Council Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have pleasure in presenting my Annual Report on the health of the District for the year ended 31st December, 1957. The report follows the lines laid down by the Ministry of Health. Again the vital statistics may be considered satisfactory, the total number of live births registered during the year— 467—compares with 461 in 1956 and the birth rate, corrected by the comparability factor supplied by the Registrar- General, at 21.31 is higher than that for England and Wales at 16.1. The death rate (corrected) at 10.50 compares with the National rate at 11.50. There were 14 deaths of infants under one year and of these deaths 11 were under 4 weeks old. The infantile mor¬ tality rate at 29.98, compares with 23.0 for England and Wales. Prematurity is still the main contributory cause of these infantile deaths. Once again there were no maternal deaths during the year in the District. On considering the number of deaths in the District, 180, it must be recalled that deaths in hospital within the District, of persons normally domiciled in areas outside the District, and who have been three months or longer in that hospital, are not transferred to the outside authority, but retained as deaths in the area where the hospital is situated. This factor quite definitely increases the death rate. On analysis the main cause of death was heart disease, with 47 deaths (48 in 1956) and vascular diseases of the ner¬ vous system with 24 deaths—20 in 1956. There were 5 deaths from tuberculosis (none in 1956) and 11 deaths from pneu¬ monia (9 in 1956). Notification of infectious diseases were higher than in 1956; the year 1957 was a “Measles Year” with no less than 486 cases—-the total of all infectious diseases notified was 630—and measles thus constituted 77% of all notifications. The measles peak months were May, June and July and the epidemic petered out in the early Autumn. Whooping cough was endemic from January to August with a total of 91 cases notified. Artificial immunization against this disease is considered to give 70% protection to infants inoculated. There were 21 cases of primary or influenzal pneumonia; c.f.