UNENVIABLE RECORD

Evening Star, Issue 25939, 2 November 1946, Page 6

UNENVIABLE RECORD

DUNEDIN'S SEPTIC ABORTION RATE HIGHEST FOR CITY AREAS Although Dunedin had the lowest rate oi puerperal deaths of the four principal urban areas during the years from 1941 to 1945, this city claimed the highest-rate of septic abortion. Deaths from septic abortion are consistently higher in the urban areas, but Dunedin’s record during the five years of an average annual rate pf 1.20 per 1,000 of live births is appreciably higher than Auckland (1.11) and Wellington (0.45) despite the greater populations. The number of women who lost their lives in New Zealand during 1945 through some cause of death connected with pregnancy or child birth was 83. This was a decrease of eight from the. previous year, and was the more notable because births recorded increased by 3,448, The toll of life taken by the group pf diseases associated with child birth is remarkably low in the Dominion, and, expressed as a ratio of living births, the death rate per 1,000 for 1945 was 2.24, Even this figure is queried by the Government Statistician in presenting the survey, for, he states, an erroneous impression as to the magnitude of tho cost of motherhood is sometimes conveyed by the use of the term maternal mortality. Among the deaths, due to puerperal causes each year are. included a considerable number resulting from conditions which should not be considered a normal hazard of the puerperal state, such as the great majority of septic abortion cases. The more correct index figure arrived at by deducting these deaths shows that in 1945 the rat® per 1,000 of live births was 1.94, or little more than half what it was 10 years ago The record low rate was recorded in 1943 with 1.72.