[Report 1974] / Medical Officer of Health, Guernsey.

  • Guernsey (Channel Islands). Council.
Date:
1974
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1974] / Medical Officer of Health, Guernsey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/60 (page 10)
    system, but this bald statement is not of great significance. Sooner or later we all come to the point when our hearts stop; if at that time there is nothing else wrong with us, it is more than likely that death will be ascribed to one of the conditions listed in Group VII—Diseases of the Circulatory System. However, there may be no disease process at work in many a willing heart which stops only because it has functioned faultlessly for a full lifetime. Indeed, if we take the time-hallowed three score and ten years as a lifetime, then 73% of the deaths in this group ocurred after the age of 70 years. In men 59% of deaths in this group ocurred after age 70: in women, 86%. Here lies the true significance of the deaths from circulatory conditions—the age at which death occurs. In men between 50 and 69 years of age 51 deaths were ascribed to circulatory diseases; in women of the same age group half as many, only 25. As a proportion of all deaths in this age group these figures represent 51% for men and only 38J% for women. (Appendix III provides the figures for these expressions). If we now turn to Appendix IV the causes for these earlier circulatory deaths can be examined in greater detail. Of the 51 male deaths between ages 50 and 69 no less than 37 (73%) were ascribed to coronary thrombosis and cardiac ischaemia. Of the 25 female deaths in this age group ascribed to circulatory disease only 9 (36%) are certified as due to these two conditions. The ratios are of the simplest in this year’s figures—4:1 and 2:1—with the advantage clearly in favour of the ladies. Cancer is, once again, the second largest cause of death in our population. An examination of Group II in Appendix III will quickly show that here the disparity between the sexes is much less marked, age group for age group. However, following this group into Appendix IV one’s eye is immediately drawn to the unequal distribution of the condition classified number 162—cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung. Of the 30 deaths due to lung cancer this year 22 were men only 8 women, a ratio of 11:4. All but two of the male deaths and all but one of the female deaths occurred under the age of 75. Lung cancer is down in Guernsey in 1974 by comparison with the preceding three years, but it is only a little less than last year (30:32). Rates per million are compared in Appendix VII and show, once again, an increase in this rate for women and another drop in this rate for men. The rates for the population and for Guernsey males are both substantially lower than the prevailing rates in England and Wales. The Guernsey rate for females is now greater than the corresponding rate in England and Wales. The third largest group, the respiratory diseases, are much less in evidence as a cause of death in 1974. Altogether there were 65 (85) deaths in this group, 10.7% (14.3%) of all deaths at all ages. Male deaths were down to 37 (44) or 12.5% (14.2%) of all male deaths from all causes, and female deaths were 28 (41) or 9% (14.4%) of all female deaths, all causes. (The figures above in brackets refer to 1973). Half of the male deaths (19:37) in this group occurred in the seventh or eighth decade of life, whereas over 70% of the female respiratory deaths (20:28) occurred in the ninth decade or later. In other words, bronchopneumonia is not