HH62/1/AYR/71

Transcription

[Page] 70

learned that there was no case of scarlet fever in Maybole, nor in any
of the neighbouring parishes of Straiton, Kirkmichael, Dailly, or
Kirkoswald, neither at the time, nor for a considerable period pre-
viously. I discovered, however, that there were several cases in Girvan,
and that persons from a house there with scarlet fever had been in
Maybole on the same Saturday. Fortunately, the precautions taken
at the infected house in Straiton prevented any further spread of the
disease.
Since the adoption of the Notification Act in the district on 1st
December, the cases notified during that month were 13 of scarlet
fever; 8 of these were (in one family) in the parish of Dailly; 4 in
Girvan (3 in one family); and 1 in Maybole parish. The origin of
the infection was not quite clear. All the cases were isolated at their
own homes, and every precaution taken which was possible under the
circumstances.

VITAL STATISTICS.

Birth-rate. - The birth-rate (30.6) of this district during the
year is lower than that of the other districts of the county. The
mean annual birth-rate in Scotland for the previous ten years was
31.9 per 1000. Considering the extremely rural nature of Carrick,
the birth-rate is comparatively high. For the mainland rural
districts of Scotland, as a whole, the mean annual birth-rate is about
27.5 per 1000
Total Death-rate - The death-rate from all causes during the
year, after adjusting the deaths of persons belonging to the district
that occurred in institutions outside of the district, was 18.1, which
compares favourably with the other three districts of the county. As
I stated previously, the large proportion comparatively of aged people
in this district makes the total death-rate appear much higher than
the sanitary condition of the district warrants. Once the detailed
census of 1891 is issued by the Registrar-General, we shall be able
to correct this, so as to make the statistics of the Carrick District
comparable to those of the other three districts of the county.
Infantile Death-rate. - Irrespective of the age distribution of
the population, this gives us a trustworthy estimate of the health of
a district. Without the data as to the ages of the population, this,
as a single test, may be considered the most reliable. While the
average for the whole county shows 116 deaths of infants under 1
year of age per 1000 registered births, the rate of mortality in the
Carrick District during the year under notice is 84.
Zymotic Death-rate. - The death-rate from the familiar zymotic
diseases usually indicates the hygienic surroundings of a people, as
well as the activity of Local Authorities in dealing promptly with
outbreaks of these diseases. No doubt the isolated condition of the
population in the district is favourable in this respect. The rate,
1.18 per 1000, in the district during the year is comparatively low.
Each of the individual zymotic diseases is under the average for the
county.

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Death-rates from Septic and Tubercular Diseases. - These com-
pare favourably with the other districts of the county, and are
reliable criteria of the sanitary condition.
Death-rates from other Diseases. - The remaining groups of
diseases show a higher rate of mortality in this district than in the
others. This is simply due to the fact that people must die some-
time, and in the Carrick District a large proportion of the population
live to ages at which a high death-rate from these groups of disease
is but a natural sequence.

AGES AT DEATH OF ALL PERSONS WHO DIED IN THE CARRICK
DISTRICT DURING THE YEAR.

[Table inserted]

AGES OF THOSE OVER 60 YEARS OF AGE AT DEATH.

[Table inserted]

From the above table it will be seen that nearly the half (48.4 per cent.)
of the total deaths in the district during the year was of persons over 60 years
of age, and that the average age of those individuals was 75.2 years, while the
mean age of 40 persons over 80 years of age was 84.8 years each.

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