Pneumonia: The death rate from pneumonia for 1910 was 147.7 per 100,000, making a total of 147,700 deaths from this disease. The death rate from this disease increased considerably over that of the preceding year.
Kidney disease: The total number of deaths from kidney disease in 1910 was 99 per 100,000, making a total of 99,000 for an estimated population of 100,000,000. This includes all forms of kidney trouble, nephritis and Bright’s disease.
Typhoid fever: The death rate from typhoid fever was 23.5 per 100,000, a total of 23,500 for the estimated population of 100,000,000.
You older men like me who were in the war know that war is hell—not because you are shot—that is glory; but because you die of disease; and if you will read the military history of the Civil War, so-called (I do not know why, for it was not so very “civil”) you will see that while one man died of wounds, four died of disease, because we did not understand the principles of serum prophylaxis. We are not going to have in the next war four men die of fever where one is killed in battle.
One of the curious features in connection with typhoid fever is that some of the most sparsely settled States show the highest rates of fatality, for instance the number of people dying in Colorado of typhoid fever is 41.9; in Montana, 39.9, and Utah, 37 per 100,000. Only one of the thickly populated States equals this—Maryland, 40.7 per 100,000. Some of the lowest death rates for typhoid fever were found in New Hampshire, 10.7; Massachusetts, 12.4; Rhode Island, 13.6; Vermont, 14; New Jersey, 14.5, and Connecticut, 14.7. Of cities of 100,000 population or over in 1910, Omaha, Nebraska, showed the highest rate, namely, 86.7; Minneapolis, Minn., 58.7; Kansas City, Mo., 54.4; Atlanta, Ga., 50.1; Birmingham, Ala., 49.5; Nashville, Tenn., 48.9; Milwaukee, Wis., 45.7; Spokane, Wash., 45.4, and Baltimore, Md., 42. The lowest rates shown for some of the large cities were those of Bridgeport, Conn., 4.9; Paterson, N. J., 7.1; Cincinnati, O., 8.8, and Cambridge, Mass., 9.5 per 100,000. These cities seemingly are as well protected against typhoid fever as some of the cities of Europe, where death rates are as follows: London, 4; Edinburgh, 2; Dublin, 10; Paris, 7; Brussels, 19; Amsterdam, 7; Copenhagen, 3; Stockholm, 4; Christiania, 2; Berlin, 4, and Vienna, 4 per 100,000. Thus, evidently in such cities as Cincinnati, Berlin and London, death from typhoid fever is no longer a terror.
Measles, which is supposed to be almost a harmless disease, causes a large number of deaths, the death rate for 1910 being 12.3 per 100,000 population, or a total of 12,300 for the estimated population. In some cities the number of deaths by measles was almost as high as that by typhoid fever, notably in Pittsburgh, Pa., 33.1; Providence, R. I., 31.9; Kansas City, Mo., 28.4; Lowell, Mass., 28.1; Albany, N. Y., 23.9; Columbus, O., 23.6; Buffalo, N. Y., 22.1, and Richmond, Va., 21.1 per 100,000. Scarlet fever is not so deadly a disease as measles, since the fatalities per 100,000 for 1910 was 11.6. Death rates from this disease were high in the following cities of 100,000 population or over: Buffalo, N. Y., 53.6; Lowell, Mass., 41.2; St. Paul, Minn., 30.2; St. Louis, Mo., 27.1; Kansas City, Mo., 23.2; Milwaukee, Wis., 22.3; Pittsburgh, Pa., 22.2; Rochester, N. Y., 21.4, and New York, N. Y., 20 per 100,000.
Whooping cough produced as many deaths as measles and scarlet fever, the death rate for 1910 being 11.4 per 100,000 population. Diphtheria and croup produced a death rate of 21.4 per 100,000 population, or a total of 21,400 for the estimated population.
Influenza, or “la grippe,” caused a death rate of 14.4 per 100,000 population for 1910. This disease is less prevalent than for the preceding ten years. The above data are sufficient to show the principal causes of death, old age, unfortunately, being so small a factor as to be almost negligible in the compilation.
It might be interesting to extend these vital statistics to a greater length, but a sufficient number of data have been given to establish some of the fundamental principles which should guide physicians and the sanitarians of the future in their work.
THE MEANS OF AVOIDING AVOIDABLE DEATH.