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Maternal Mortality

43. The rate for 1972 was 0.20, a slight increase on the 1971 rate. The causes of maternal mortality, which increased during the year. were haemorrages, abortions and toxaemia.

General Mortality

44. The marked social and economic changes occurring in Hong Kong during the years following World War II were again reflected in the mortality trends and patterns of disease during the year. These have changed considerably in the past two decades. Improvements in the general level of public health were demonstrated by the decline in proportionate mortality from infections and intestinal diseases,

45. In all age groups, malignant neoplasms were the main cause of death, being responsible for 20.8 per cent of all deaths in 1972. The five leading causes of death were cancer, discases of the heart including hypertensive disease, pneumonia, cerebro-vascular disease, and tuber- culosis, in that order.

46. The death rate from cancer continued to increase, rising from 30 per 100,000 of the population for both sexes in 1950 to 69.7 in 1961, and to 107.3 in 1972. Among women, the common causes of death from cancer were cancer of the breast and cancer of the uterine cervix. In the community as a whole, the common cancer deaths were cancer of the lung. primary cancer of the liver, nasopharyngeal cancer, and cancer of the stomach.

47. Heart disease, including bypertensive diseases, was the second leading cause of death with a mortality rate of 58.9 per 100,000 of the population in 1961, increasing to 74.4 in 1972.

48. Pneumonia was the third leading cause of death. The disease was a major cause of death in the mid-1950s, but the mortality rate dropped from 85.8 in 1961 to 57.8 in 1972.

49. Cerebro-vascular disease, fourth in the list, bad a mortality rate of 44.2 in 1961. This rose to 46.4 in 1972.

$0. Mortality from tuberculosis increased from 30.9 in 1971 to 32.2 in 1972. In 1961, the rate was 60.2.

51. The eighth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death, published by the World

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Health Organization, came into use on 1st January, 1969, All reg- istered medical practitioners were supplied with a supplement of the eighth revision, and were requested to ensure that the nomencialure of causes of death given by them on death certificates complied with those in the International Classification,

COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

(Tables 13-16)

52. The total notifications of communicable diseases during 1972 was 10,873. Of this figure, tuberculosis comprised 77.4 per cent. Satis- factory progress continued to be made in the control of diphtheria. and poliomyelitis. The incidence of bacillary dysentery and enteric fever continued their downward trend. The incidence of these four diseases is illustrated in Figure 3. The number of measles cases and deaths showed an increase compared with 1971, despite the continuing anti-measles vaccination campaign.

FIGURE 3

INCIDENCE OF MAJOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES 1958-72

PH

IK. REFLENTERI

T

KONTEINE POV

THE

TELU

T

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