VITAL STATIST

Shannon News, 4 December 1925, Page 4

VITAL STATIST

FIGURES FOR i o.'i, A LOW DEATH RATE. The annual report on vital statistics for 1924, ■which has just been published by the Government statistician, ranges from birth to death over a veritable field of diseases. The figures supplied are of peculiar interest . During the year under review 28,014 children were born alive, representing 21.57 per 100,0 of mean population. This number was 47, or .17 per cent higher than that for the previous year—an exceedingly low rate almost as low as that of 1919, -which was of course, very seriously affected by the absence of men at the war, as well as by the influenza epidemic. Of the infants registered, 14,295 were males and 13,719 females. In the case of first-borns, 1042 males were born to every 1000 females. Among illegitimate children (nearly all firstborns), the rate was 1037 to 1000. Tliery were 296 cases of twins, and three cases of triplets. In 77 cases of twin births, both children were males in 108 both were females, the twins being- of opposite sexes in the remaing 111 cases. The births of 1338' illegitimate children were registered, this making 4S in every 1000 born, a proportion slightly higher than was the case in | any of the preceeding ten years. j Marriages. There were 10,259 marriages, or 189 more than' celebrated in the pre. vious year. This gives a rate of 7.90 per, 1000, which is considerably below the average for the ten years pre. ceding the war, Wednesday was by far the most popular day for marriage. In 8708 cases neither party had before been married. Out of every 1000 marriages, 28 persons were described as being widowed, and 64 divorced. Four per cent of the bridegrooms and 18 per cent of the brides, were under 21 years of age. Four bridegrooms were between only 17 and 18 years of ago,, and 47 between 18 and 19, while one of the brides had not attained her fifteenth birthday, seven

were between 15 and 16 ,and 48 between 1G and 17. On the other hand, 710 bridegrooms and 340 brides were over 45 years of age. However, peo-' pie still marry fairly young, for Of the total 62 per cent of the bridegrooms and 70 per cent of the brides were under 30. Deaths. There were 10..77 deaths, showing the substantial decrease of 744 as compared with the previous year. This is equal to 5.29 per cent of popu_ lation .which is the lowest ever re_ corded in the Dominion. The opinion is expressed tliat the succession ot extremely low death rates year after year since 1920 would indicate that a new level has been reached, lower than would a few years ago t>e con-1 sidered possible, with the age-consti-tution of the population ever increas- I ing. A preponderance over female deaths occurs in all age groups, even I between the ages of 20 and 40, in J spite of the fact that ot this period the effects of child-bearing are felt in the female numbers. The number of infantile deaths under one year was 1127. The Infantile mortality rate was 40.23 per 1000 live births, the lowest yet re. corded. And GO per cent of these deaths occurred ; within the first month of life. The rate of deaths, among those who survived the first month had declined from 62.70 per j cent in 18S1-18S5 to only 16. GS in 1 1924. Tuberculosis. « A , further continuation of the downward trend in the incidence of tuberculosis of the' respiratory system is exceedingly gratifying -when it is considered that tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death. The '1924 death rate for this disease- was 4.41, which i s an improvement of 9.3 per cent over the figure for 1923 (4.86). This reduction is all the more remarkable when it is taken into account that the tuberculosis death rate for 1923 was then the lowest on record. Of the 573 deaths males contributed SOS and females 368. Cancer Increasing. Tuberculosis other than ,of the re-

spiratory system was responsible for j 163 deaths in 1924, or 10 less than those so classified in the previous I year. Eighty-three of the deaths were ascribed to tuberculosis meningitis, 12 to' tuberculosis of the intestines and peritoneum, 20 to tuber. culosis of the vertabral column, 7 to tuberculosis of the joints, and 29 to disseminated tuberculosis. Abdominal tuberculosis is the only form of tubercular disease which regularly has higher death.ratc among females than among males. Of those who who died from tuberculous meningitis, 7 were under one year of ag, 33 under five years, and 21 between the ages of five and fifteen. A considerable increase in the number of deaths from cancer was recorded in 1924, whan the comparatively large total of 1245 was reached. Malignant tumours were the second cause Of death in numerical importance the only group having a higher death-rate being "diseases of the heart." The death.rate (9.59) is the highest ever experienced in the Dominion,, and is 9.0 pr cent higher than in the preceding year. One death in every six of women, arid one' death in every seven of men over the age of forty, is from cancer. As a result of an endeavour to separate the various types of malignant growths it was found that out of the lotai of 1245 deaths from malignant tumours in 1924, 773 were due to sarcinoma, 54 to sarcoma, and 34 to epithelioma, while ''cancer" not otherwise defined was tho cause of 280 deaths.

Diseases of Hie Heart. Although heart-disease still easily maintains first position as regaras numerical importance it is very gratifying to note a substantial decrease of 165 in the number during the year. The total number of deaths from the various affections of the heart was 1858, corresponding to a rate of 14.31 per 10,000 of mean population, and constituting 17 per cent of the total deaths. Apart from the, usual number .of deaths of persor.s over sixty-five ■years of age, there were, in 1924, 34 under twenty yearu of age and 101 between the ages cf twenty and forty

years. The age data for heart disease, reflect the wear-and-tear, or senility factor, in. human mortality, and this is further accentuated from the information relating to contributory causes, which shows that in 153 cases of deaths from heart_disease senility was shown as a secondary cause of death . That the various disease s of the lungs have some considerable effect in hastening 'death from heart-disease is disclosed from the figures for 1924, which show that these diseases were a . contributory cause of death with heart-disease In 215 cases (bronchitis, 81; congestion of the lungs, 52; pneumonia, 31; asthma, 31). ■ '