[Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough.

  • Hastings (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/54 (page 7)
    Inquests. Inquests were held by the Coroner on the bodies of 55 persons, death being1 attributed to natural causes in 21 cases, to accident or misadventure in 24 cases, to suicide in 7 cases, to wilful murder in one case. The cause of death of two sailors whose decomposed bodies were washed ashore in Hastings could not be ascertained. Deaths by Violence. Violent deaths were 26 in number including 7 suicidal deaths, compared with 24 (4 suicidal) in 1919. Deaths from Certain Classes of Diseases — Developmental Diseases. Deaths amongst infants from wasting diseases numbered 31 and formed 53 per cent of all deaths under one year of age. Of these 17 were due to premature birth, 7 to congenital malform- ation and 7 to atrophy, debility, marasmus, or atelectasis, 19 occurring within the first week of life. Syphilis was responsible for 4 infant deaths and not improbably for some of the other deaths which resulted from prematurity and congenital defect. Deaths from Tuberculosis. Deaths from Tuberculosis showed a very marked diminution in number, being 89, compared with 108 in 1919. Pulmonary Tuberculosis caused 66 deaths (34 of males and 32 of females) and other forms of tuberculosis 23. The phthisis death-rate which had been 1'59 in 1919 and D69 in 1918 declined in 1920 to 1 TO per thousand. Deaths from Respiratory Diseases. Deaths from pneumonia and bronchitis declined from 134 in 1918 and 122 in 1919 to 89 in 1920, of which 51 were at ages of 65 and upwards. The death-rate from these diseases was 1*43 against 2T in 1919. The local death-rate from respiratory diseases is usually rather high owing to the number of persons suffering from such