[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Anglesey County Council.

  • Anglesey (Wales). County Council. no2003102100.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Anglesey County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    101/120 (page 99)
    VI. CANCER IN COUNTY DISTRICTS. The census data enable us to compare the incidence of cancer in the separate districts having made due allowance for the variable age composition of the population in each area. The need to adjust” for the age composition of the population may be illustra- ted by taking as an example cancer of the breast in females. The risk of dying from cancer of this site is more than ten times as high at ages 85 and over as it is at the ages 35-44 (the actual rates in England and Wales in 1951 were 2,402 and 222 respectively per \ million living at tlie ages in question). Although Llangefni, accord- ing to the census, had a slightly larger female population (all ages) than Beaumaris—1,181 against 1,153—there were twice as many females aged 85 and over in Beaumaris—15 as against 7. Accord- ingly we should expect more deaths in Beaumaris from cancer of the breast than in Llangefni. There are several methods available whereby we can make the necessar}.’ adjustments to enable us to eliminate the disturbing effect of local variations in the age and sex composition of the populations in which we are interested. In examining the figures about cancer we have taken the deatli rate observed in England and Wales in 1951 for each age-sex group as published by the Registrar General (Statistical Review' 1951 Text Volume) and applied these rates to the corresponding age-sex groups in the population of each county district as enumerated in the 1951 census. This will give an expected” number of deaths per annum in each age-sex group and summation over all .such groups in any one district will give the expected” number in the district. The expected number is thus the number that would have occurred if the mortality rates known to have been operative among the separate age-sex components of the population in England and Wales had also operated on these components of the district’s popu- lation. Expected” numbers therefore provide us with a yardstick to compare not only district with district but also the separate districts with the experience of the country generally. To illustrace the procedure let us take the example previously referred to i.e cancer of the breast in females. The death rate per Wales in 1951 is given as 222 at ages 35-44 age.s 85 and over. According to the census there were 3,d27 females in Anglesey aged 35-44 and 208 females aged 85 and over. We should thus expect to find per annum • 222 X 3,527 and 2,402 x 208 1,000,000 1,000,000