A fascinating article appeared August 20, 1926, entitled, REVIEWS PROGRESS OF WAR ON DISEASE. This article provides information from the U.S. Public Health Service for 1924 on disease statistics for the country, and some comparisons to previous years. It stated progress was significant in many diseases, while some were holding steady and some were actually increasing.
The leading cause of death today for men and women is heart disease, but it may seem odd that the leading cause of death in 1924 for men and women was also heart disease.
Tuberculosis was a significant killer. Reports for 1924 were available from only 35 states at the time of the article, and they totaled over 78,000 deaths. Extrapolation to the rest of the country would show a total of 112,000. However, if the TB death rate from 1900 were applied to 1924, the total would have been 233,000.
Based on data supplied from the same 35 states, there were 10,700 deaths from diphtheria. Again, extrapolating from 1900 rates would have produced nearly 50,000 deaths.
Although no numbers were provided, it says that whooping cough still kills thousands of infants and children.
No comments:
Post a Comment