Medical Report – Cancer, Infant Mortality, Births and Deaths

September 1941

South Yorkshire Times, 20 September 1941

Medical Report

“Periodical medical examination in middle life would help to reveal those cases which remain undetected until it is too late for surgical or radium treatment to be of any avail”, states the Medical Officer of Health Dr. John McArthur, in his annual report submitted to last week’s meeting of the Urban Council, after mentioning that there were 21 deaths from cancer during the year, compared with 17 for the previous year.

The report reveals that the infantile mortality rate for the Conisborough area is lower than that for England and Wales and shows a considerable reduction, when compared with the previous year.

The infantile mortality rate for Conisbrough in the year under review is 54.9 per thousand births, compared with 55 per thousand births for England and Wales whilst the figure for Conisbrough in the previous year was 80 per thousand and births.

The death-rate also compares favourably with the figure for the country as a whole, for while in Conisbrough the death rate amounted to 13.5 per thousand of the population the figure for England and Wales is 14.3, though the death rate in Conisbrough has increased since 1939, when the figure was 9.5 per thousand of the population.

The birth-rate in Conisbrough is also in excess of that of England and Wales, the figures being 21.3 and 14.6 per thousand of the population respectively.