Cancer and Mental Retardation

As a result of this observation, and being unable to find much information concerning deaths from cancer 'n mentally retarded patients, we decided to examine all the records of the patients who died from cancer during the past forty years in the Stoke Park Group of Hospitals in Bristol. We selected the forty year period for the following reasons. (a) We wanted to compare the incidence of cancer before and after the introduction of antibiotics and tranquillizers during the 50's. (b) During this period the hospital population has remained fairly constant at around 1,690 patients of which 820 were males and 870 females, equivalent to 32,800 and 34,800 patients respectively over the 40 year period. (c) Records and detailed post mortem examination were started in 1933 by the late Professor Berry and Neuropathologist, Dr. Norman (Jancar, 1969) and since then post mortems have been performed, on average, on 48 per cent of the patients who have died in the Hospital Group. Some cases of