[Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Winchester U.D.C. / City.

  • Winchester (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Winchester U.D.C. / City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/64 (page 2)
    the national birth rate figure of 17.2 per thousand live births. There were four infant deaths reported during the year giving an infant mortality rate of 10.50 deaths per thousand live births. All these deaths were amongst legitimate infants/ all of them occuring in the neo-natal period and three of them in the early neo-natal period. The infant mortality rate compares very favourably with both the national rate and the rate in Winchester for 1966. There were five stillbirths reported during the year, four of them amongst legitimate infants, this affords a stillbirth rate of 12.95 per thousand live and still births, another figure which affords favourable comparison with the national rate. There were 29 illegitimate births in the City during the year, a reduction of 18 on the figure for 1966. Expressed as a percentage of the total live births this gives a figure of 7.35% which compared with the previous yearns figure of 10o49% is much more satisfactory. There were 371 deaths registered, 170 male and 201 female. These figures give a corrected death rate per thousand of the population of 9054, the corresponding figure for England and Wales being 11.2, Whilst the figure for the City shows an increase on that of 8.17 for 1966, it has to be recalled that the latter figure was one of the few exceptionally low figures obtained over the years. The age distribution and causes of death as shown in the table in the report follows much the same pattern as before. A small reduction in the number of deaths occurring in persons under the age of 45 is more or less compensated for by the small increase in the number of deaths occurring in persons over 75 years of age. Similarly, on analysing the causes of death it is demonstrated that once again Coronary Disease and its associated conditions are responsible for 44% of all deaths in the City. Next in prominence comes Vascular Diseases of the Nervous System, closely followed in third position by deaths from Cancer in all its forms. There has been no reduction in the total number of deaths from Cancer of the lung but it is worthy of mention that all of these deaths have occurred amongst males. There were 9 deaths reported as a result of Accidents including Motor Accidents and in addition, there were 4 deaths attributable to Suicide. It is gratifying to be able to report that there was no death attributable either to Maternal Cause or to Tuberculosis during the year. As indicated by the notifications of Measles infection in the closing months of 1966, the mild epidemic continued through the first half of 1967 and accounted for no less than 301 of the 327 cases of notifiable disease occurring in the City during the year. It is sincerely to be hoped that parents will be as willing to come forward and avail of the facilities now available to protect their children against this disease and by so doing, relegate Measles to join the other happily, almost defunct, infections such as Poliomyelitis and Diphtheria. If this is to be achieved the co-operation of the parents is a first essential, and it is necessary to overcome a feeling, rather firmly rooted in the public mind, that Measles is a trivial disease that can readily be treated by a few days rest in bed. In fact, the complications of Measles, which too often occur, can be every bit as serious as those of Poliomyelitis or Diphtheria. Of the other notifiable diseases it is only necessary to mention that there has been a slight increase in the number of notifications of the incidence of Whooping Cough.