[Report 1934] / Medical Officer of Health, Staffordshire County Council.

  • Staffordshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1934] / Medical Officer of Health, Staffordshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In the following table I have shown the chief causes of death for the last ten years, the numbers given for 1934 being approxi¬ mately 66-3 per cent, of the total deaths :— Table Showing Chief Causes of Death. 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 *Zymotic Diseases 604 337 386 242 376 301 281 311 231 223 Influenza 325 185 532 116 570 131 311 221 424 139 Tuberculosis of Respira¬ tory System 530 497 465 423 492 476 497 412 469 438 Tuberculosis, other forms 143 139 156 99 100 104 112 113 87 93 Cancer, Malignant Disease 790 785 803 851 899 912 897 915 896 963 Cerebral Haemorrhage 542 464 465 430 462 431 477 510 460 443 Heart Disease 1053 1054 1047 1239 1448 1366 1500 1561 1579 1556 Bronchitis 648 544 650 395 622 352 485 369 409 31J Pneumonia 809 660 865 563 933 588 630 570 607 570 Congenital Debility, &c. 521 496 453 428 420 409 459 443 413 412 *Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fevers, Measles, Small-pox, Scarlet Fever, Whooping Cough, Diphtheria and Diarrhoea. The chief cause of death in 1934, as in previous years, was heart disease. On referring to the table it will be seen that from 1925 to 1932 there was a progressive increase in the number of deaths from heart disease, but that since 1932 the ligure has re¬ mained much the same. The number of deaths from cancer has again increased, being nearly 70 more than last year. This disease, like heart disease, has shown a steady increase from 1925 onwards, but possibly some part of this increase may be due to the fact that increased facilities for diagnosis have been available of recent years and patients have become more alive to the necessity of going to a doctor early when any suspicion of cancer is raised, so that in cases where death would previously have been ascribed to some concomitant condition, the diagnosis of cancer is now established beyond doubt. It will be noted that the figures for influenza show a con¬ siderable drop compared with the previous year—139 compared with 424, whilst the deaths from bronchitis and pneumonia are less, showing the effect of a mild winter. The following table, which was introduced for the first time last year, shows the number of deaths in different age groups from various causes during 1934. It is interesting to compare this with the previous table showing the principal causes of death. Pneumonia again took heavy toll of child life. Of the 689 deaths occurring in children under one year of age, 90 of these were due to pneumonia. In tuberculosis of the respiratory system the majority of deaths occurred between the ages of 15 and 45, as is usually the case. The death rate for tuberculosis is given under the appropriate heading at the end of this Report. It will be noted that deaths in infants under one year due to congenital debility, malformation, premature birth, etc., amount to 401 out of a total of 689. I give further details of this matter on page 49 of this Report.