[Report 1972] / Medical Officer of Health, St Albans R.D.C.

  • St. Albans (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1972
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1972] / Medical Officer of Health, St Albans R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It will be seen that the principal causes of death were, as has been usual in recent years, the followings- 1972 1971 1970 12i2 M. F, M. F. M. F. M, F Cancer Lnng 20 2 15 4 17 7 11 5 Cancer Stomach 4 5 4 3 7 5 6 3 Coronairy 63 62 54 58 60 85 65 74 Stroke 20 35 20 27 26 44 23 44 Pneumonic 23 65 26 63 24 67 38 56 Bronchitis 20 5 16 6 21 14 22 10 Coronary and cancer of the lung are the commonest killers in middle aiged men and of the above totals, 11 men under 65 died of cancer of the lung and 3^ died of coronary* Cancer of the stomach is not uncommon at this age, too, and 2 men under 65 died of this during the year* The national figures for deaths from cancer of the lung continue to rise steadily from 239779 in 19^2 to 319^49 in 1972 in England and Wales* Other cancers aire not increasing at this rate* We had only one death from an infectious disease, namely tuberculosis, though there were 1,293 such deaths in the country as a whole. The degenerative and malignant diseases emerge as the great public health problem of the present. Much can be done by the individual to reduce his or her chamce of succumbing prematurely to one of these conditions but unfortunately like so much good advice it is easier to give than to act upon. There is no doubt, nevertheless that (1) dieteiry control to avoid overweight and intestinal stasis due to the consumption of refined foods, (2) the taking of regular exercise, and (3) the shunning of cigarettes would, if widely adopted have a dramatic effect on the figures quoted in these pages.