[Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Plymouth Borough and Port.

  • Plymouth (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Plymouth Borough and Port. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/120 (page 29)
    2Q INFANTILE MORTALITY.—By the infantile mortality is meant the number of deaths of infants under one year of age. It is usually estimated by comparing this number with the number of births and calculating the number of deaths under one year per thousand births. There were 361 deaths under one year of age, or 128.28 per thousand births. The infant mortality is generally considered one of the most important indications of the sanitary conditions of a town, and it is most satisfactory to note the steady decrease in the deaths of children under one year of age. From Table V. (Appendix) it will be seen that the greatest proportion of deaths amongst infants occur in the first few months of life. In fact, in the first month 36 per cent., or over one-third of the deaths occur; this includes all those prematurely born, and those whose hold of life is from the first exceedingly feeble; 62 per cent, of the deaths occur in the first three months of life, and 78 per cent., or over three- fourths, in the first six months. 572 deaths of children under five years of age occurred, that is, 30.7 per cent, of the total deaths were those of child¬ ren under five years of age, and 19.4 per cent, under one year; the average for the last ten years being 32.2 and 22.2 per cent, respectively. The following table shows the variation of infantile mortality in each quarter of the year No. of Births. No. of Infant Deaths. Infant Mortality Rate per 10CO Births. First Quarter 749 Ill 148.2 Second ,, ... 683 72 IO5.4 Third ,, 696 97 I39-3 Fourth ,, 686 81 118.0 Year ... 2814 361 128.2