Survival rate

“ In one favorable instance, that of between 600 and 700 persons of the working class in the metropolis, during a period of three years, the average rate of mortality has been reduced to between 13 and 14 in 1000. In another instance, for a shorter period, among 500 persons, the mortality has been reduced as low as even 7 in 1000. ”

“ In the whole country, the marvellous results which have been produced can be seen. Thanks to these laws, the rate of mortality has been lowered, the mean duration of life increased, the amount of sickness decreased. ”

“ Since 1896 an uncommon mild type of the disease has prevailed very extensively, but the death rate has been exceedingly low, being for the eleven years, 1897-1907, slightly less than one death for each 100,000 inhabitants. ”

“ When one reads the account of the condition of the densely crowded districts on the south side of the High Street, one is not surprised that the rate of mortality was 40 and over per thousand. That you now enjoy one of the lowest death rates in Europe—15.3 per thousand for last year—is due to the thoroughness with which measures of recognized efficiency have been carried out. ”

“ From a table showing the ratio per thousand of mortality in the United States Army as compared with the mortality of males between twenty and forty years of age in civil life, it appears that the death-rate from disease among the soldiers is from twice to three times as great per thousand as among civilians. ”

“ For while we have been lengthening the average term of life and reducing the death rate in general, we have been shocked to find that the mortality above forty-five has been increasing rather than decreasing, so that men are being taken off just at the prime of life and at the height of their usefulness more than ever before, in spite of all our hygiene and the development of sanitary science. ”

“ The outstanding fact which strikes one at once from this table is the high order of the correlation which exists between the explosiveness of the outbreak of epidemic mortality in these communities and the normal death rate from certain causes of death in the same communities. ”

“ There is no reason to doubt that instead of every second man perishing miserably within a few weeks, the rate of mortality might have been as low as that exhibited in the South American Report, viz., one death annually by disease out of 150 men. ”

“ A detailed consideration of our sickness and mortality during the last year suggests to me a few other remarks, which may, I think, be of practical utility to your Hon. Court.
First, as regards the ages at which death occurs; the respective proportions of timely and untimely deaths may, generally speaking, be inferred from the local death-rates. In general terms, we know a high death-rate indicates that many die before their time—indicates that a proportion of the population, more or less considerable, instead of reaching old age, becomes prematurely blighted and extinguished. ”

“ Death-Rate old age, cancer, casualties, etc., 17 will die annually, and no more. And this number is the maximum that will die without the occurrence of some disease due to a removable cause. Taking this standard as the absolute necessary death-rate, we can readily estimate the number of unnecessary or preventable deaths which occur in any community. ”

“ As the epidemic progressed the mortality-rate increased from day to day, until it reached the point of 5,000 deaths per day, and on several occasions ran up to as high as 10,000 deaths in the twenty four hours. ”

“ Such an increase in the number living in the later ages would merely lead to a correspondingly increased number of deaths, and not to an increase in the death rate at these ages, which is the ratio between the number dying and the number living. ”

“ The areas where the most dependable vital statistics are to be had, show but a trifling increase in the group above age 40 in each 1,000 of the population, while the death rate in the same group shows a very marked increase. ”

“ The expansion of medical services and improvement in the standard of health during the 1950s and 1960s resulted in a marked decline in the mortality rate, from 14 per 1,000 in 1950 to 8 per 1,000 in 1968. The age structure of the population, with a preponderance in the lower age brackets, provided the potential for a continuing low mortality rate. ”

“ While man's mortality, after falling off markedly up to forty-five years, begins after that period to increase distinctly, woman's death rate, on the other hand, continues to decrease until fifty-five years of age, beating man ten years ”

“ From ten to fifteen, the average mortality is lower than at any other period. From fifteen to twenty the number of deaths increases again, especially among women. At this period, the influence of dangerous occupations begins to be seen in the death-rate. ”

“ In the first place, we are dealing with a death [Pg 94] rate, the death rate for 1,000 population not in the bulk, and while it is true that the passing of these lives over into the older age period does affect that rate, it only affects it slightly. It has been asserted also that the lives saved from these communicable diseases have been weakened and that they die early after passing into middle life. It is also true that that does not explain the extraordinary increase in the death rate in the older age period. ”

“ But when the plague of influenza, which on its way around the world took a toll of 6,000,000 lives, descended upon the camps and cantonments in the United States the death rate rose to 32.15 per thousand. ”

“ Incidentally, it may be remarked that the total increase of mortality after forty-five in man is only about six per cent; besides which, the race need not worry much about what happens to the individual after fifty-five or sixty, provided he has done his share of the world's work. But {303} women pass men three laps to the mile, for their increase of death rate after the age of fifty-five is barely one per cent, or one sixth of man's. ”

“ Now what is the cause of this much higher death-rate in men of the most physically perfect class, and who are now treated with the best sanitary and hygienic living conditions, and where the death-rate should be the lowest? ”

“ That these movements of mortality are not beyond the control of man is shown by this lowering of the death-rate in the age-groups most affected by the communicable diseases which have recently yielded to the attacks of science. ”

“ These considerations give peculiar interest to the results of the inquiries recently made into the actual duration of life at the present time in our cities, towns, and villages. From these inquiries it appears not only that the rate of mortality in the whole of England at the present day is deplorably high, but that there is an extraordinary excess of mortality over and above what is natural, supposing the term at present attainable to be the natural term of human life. ”

“ The general death-rate is the test most commonly applied, and generally trusted. It has its limitations in this respect. It may usually be trusted in comparing a town or district for a single year with preceding years, as the age and sex distribution of a given population only changes slowly. ”

“ We have to bear in mind the fact that all writers on sanitary matters are agreed that of all dangers to health, overcrowding is the greatest, and that the death-rate rises in proportion to the density of population. ”

“ Even when the above precautions are taken, it is conceivable that a town with a death-rate of 15 per 1,000 may really be as healthy as another with a death-rate of 12 per 1,000, though a statistical justification of this statement is a difficult task. ”

“ The usual method of measuring the health conditions of any community, such as a city, town, county, state, or country, is to compute the general death-rate, as it is called; that is, the number of deaths occurring per 1000 population. ”

“ Nor is there in Great Britain, as in this country, any evidence of a rising mortality among those in middle life and later who are chiefly affected by these degenerative maladies. The same may be said of Germany, where the death rate at every age period has steadily fallen during the past thirty years, notwithstanding a tremendous industrial progress. ”

“ A curve is plotted from a careful study of the mortality statistics, thus giving a picture which accurately represents the variations of the death-rate in this disease during practically the last fifty years ”

“ If the present thirst for knowledge of health and life conservation continues to increase, it is not only possible, it is reasonably certain that during the next thirty years the present death rate of 15 per 1,000 population in the registered area will be reduced to 10. ”

“ Unregulated work isn’t the only thing that’s the matter with New Yorkers," says the doctor.
"They eat too much. As for exercise, they take practically none. Up to forty, we have decreased the death rate. But what is happening after forty? The death rate is increasing by leaps and bounds. Organic diseases, those affecting the kidneys and the heart, the blood vessels and the nerves, are enormously on the increase."
New Typewriter Appliance. ”

“ Farr's English "Life Table" was based—rates obtained in the years 1838-'54—amounted to from 28 to 32 per cent in males at each quinquenniad of the twenty years from five to twenty-five, and in females at each quinquenniad from five to thirty-five to between 24 and 35 per cent; and that the effect of this decline in the death-rate is to raise the mean duration of life among males from 39·9 to 41·9 years, a gain of two years in the average duration of life, and among females from 41·9 to 45·3 years, a gain of nearly three and a half years in the average duration of life. ”

“ This indicator is significantly affected by age distribution, and most countries will eventually show a rise in the overall death rate, in spite of continued decline in mortality at all ages, as declining fertility results in an aging population. ”

“ It will be noticed that in 1849 the increase over the previous year was about 42,000, while in the following year, 1850, there was a falling off to 30,000 below the number of deaths in 1848. For the period of five years from 1848 to 1852 the annual average of 400,000 remained undisturbed. This would indicate that, when through a powerful influence an excessive death-rate prevails, a large proportion of the weak and sickly is carried off, so that by way of compensation the surviving, healthier population will for a time show a mortality below the average. ”

“ Thus at ages over 5 and under 45 for males, and under 55 for females, the death-rate is lower than is the total death-rate for all341 ages. For females at all ages except from 5 to 15, the death-rate is lower than for males. ”

“ The death-rate then gradually rises, slowly till 25, more rapidly later, when, from about 45 onward deterioration asserts itself more pronouncedly, and by three score years and ten the rate begins to exceed that of childhood. Thus, all other considerations being set aside, mortality tends to vary inversely with the proportion of the population at the healthy period 5 to 25. As the replenishment of this group depends upon the conditions prevailing at the earlier ages, it is to the mortality in childhood that most weight, from the standpoint of hygiene, must be attached. ”

“ This is no longer theory, but can be demonstrated by official mortality statistics. The death rate has declined more rapidly in cities than in rural communities because the cities have given more adequate support to public health organization. ”

“ The death rate after the age of forty is increasing annually in Chicago and other large cities in spite of sanitary modes of living and greater protection against communicable diseases. The expectation of life after forty years is less than it was thirty years ago. ”

“ There is no way in which the water from such a well can become infected. More than eight hundred fifty have been sunk, and the death rate in some towns fortunate enough to possess them has fallen off fifty per cent, as a result. ”

“ In 1900 or thereabouts, the death rates at the middle ages of life were heavier in the United States than in Prussia, France, Italy, and Sweden. Since then the death rates in the United States at these ages have grown even greater.
In the foreign countries the death rate by persons can be approximated by adding the rates for males and females of same age and dividing by two. ”

“ House surveys also give a fair idea of the mortality. Winslow and Rogers conclude that the fatality rate was as a rule somewhere between two and four deaths per 100 cases, the lower being more likely to be correct. ”

“ The fact that in the United States the general death rate has steadily fallen for the past several decades, a phenomenon common to all civilized countries, is accepted by many as evidence of a steady gain in National Vitality. ”

“ The death rate is very variable in different epidemics and among different classes; anywhere from fifteen to eighty-five per cent. Among the better classes it is often not greater than ten per cent in private practice. ”

“ Basing his hypothesis upon data derived in the main from the cities of Germany, he distinguishes in any given population what he designates as three degrees of vital and psychic capacity respectively. The vitality is measured in each class by the ratio of the birth to the death rate. The first vitality rank consists of the well-to-do country people, leading a tranquil existence, healthy in mind and body, free alike from dread or aspiration. This class increases rapidly by birth, and loses relatively few by premature mortality. ”