DEATHS FROM HEART DISEASE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 3 September 1934, Page 7

DEATHS FROM HEART DISEASE

INCREASING TOLL OF HUMANLIFE Certain diseases, such as rheumatic fever, diphtheria, and other common; . infectious, diseases, as well as syphilis/ .•arh regarded as predisposing toifeart. '.and arterial disease, yet despite; rthe known reduction in the virulence of tliese diseases in New Zealand heart; disease continues to take an increasing' toll of human lives says the annual report of the Health Department Statistically; it is a very-prominent figure in the death rate picture, being the cause of 3098 death in a total oF 11,7,01 t deaths last year. Heart disease, apoplexy and diseases of atem ies accounted jointly for 4026 deaths) in the grand total of 11,071, or 34 per cent, of the whole. _ This percentage appears to be increasing year by year; /‘(This is.' surely,.an important field 'for 'investigation liy the department, medical practitioners, life insurancecompanies, and the general public,” says the report. . “In New . Zealand! the average expectation of life at. birth is now 62 years. Although this'' constitutes a world’s record, probably.ft can be lengthened, and the magni" tude of these figures for heart and arterial diseases marks them, out ds worthy of special attention.” rt