[Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, St Andrews.

  • St. Andrews (Scotland). Council.
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, St Andrews. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/86 (page 8)
    Fifty-nine per cent, of the deaths from all causes occurred in persons over 65 years of age ; 30 per cent, of deaths occurred in the age group 25 to 65 years, while 11 per cent, were among young people under the age of 25 years. The mean age at death for both sexes in 1929 was 58T years. The mean age at death for males was 529 years and for females 63’0 years. Mean age at death for past seven years. Year. 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Mean age at death Both Sexes 55-8 510 59-1 59'7 583 56’5 581 Males 54-9 47-4 56-1 573 56-4 490 52-9 Females 58-8 55-5 61-6 61-8 59-4 63-2 630 For the years under review, females have lived, on the average, seven years longer than males. Diseases of the heart and blood vessels were again the chief cause of death, accounting for 37 per cent, of the total deaths. As has been pointed out in previous Reports, however, the high incidence of cardiac deaths bears no direct relation to the health of the community since the majority of deaths from heart dis- ease occur in persons over the age of 65 years as the natural terminal event in healthy lives. Although cancer was again the principal “ killing disease ” in the town, fewer persons died of it than in any of the previous seven years. Thirteen per cent, of the total deaths were attri- buted to that disease. As in previous years more women than men succumbed and no deaths occurred under the age of 35 years. The majority of people died of cancer of the digestive tract. Infectious diseases accounted for S per cent, of the total deaths largely as a result of the influenza epidemic in the first quarter of the year. Seven per cent, of the total deaths were due to tuberculosis. As compared with the numbers in 1928, an increase occurred in the number of both pulmonary and non-pulmonary deaths.