Mortality In London Research Articles

Reexamination of London, England, mortality in relation to exposure to acidic aerosols during 1963-1972 winters.

Air pollution epidemiology since the 1950s has been able to demonstrate that increases in daily mortality in London, England, were associated with elevated concentrations of index air pollutants, i.e., British Smoke (BS) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). In this work, we reanalyze that portion of the 1958-1972 winter mortality-pollution record for which daily direct acid aerosol measurements were made at a central site in London (St. Bartholomew's Medical College). The purposes of these exploratory analyses are to examine the dataset for indications of a relationship between acid aerosol pollution and human mortality and to compare any noted associations with those for other pollution variables. It is found that the log of acid aerosol concentrations is more strongly associated with raw total mortality in bivariate analyses than is BS or SO2, despite the fact that acid data are available from only one central site (versus seven disperse sites for BS and SO2). The logarithmic nature of the exposure side of the H2SO4-mortality relationship implies a saturation model of pollution effects, possibly due to multiday pollution harvesting influences on a susceptible subpopulation. Moreover, mortality-pollution cross-correlation analyses indicate that mortality effects usually follow pollution in time, supporting a causal relationship between the two. The apparent advantage of H2SO4 over BS in predicting total raw mortality is consistent with the hypothesis that it is the portion of particulate mass of greater health significance and may also allow the development of London mortality results which are more easily transferable to other environments than is the case for existing BS results.

Reexamination of London, England, Mortality in Relation to Exposure to Acidic Aerosols during 1963-1972 Winters

Air pollution epidemiology since the 1950s has been able to demonstrate that increases in daily mortality in London, England, were associated with elevated concentrations of index air pollutants, i.e., British Smoke (BS) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). In this work, we reanalyze that portion of the 1958-1972 winter mortality-pollution record for which daily direct acid aerosol measurements were made at a central site in London (St. Bartholomew's Medical College). The purposes of these exploratory analyses are to examine the dataset for indications of a relationship between acid aerosol pollution and human mortality and to compare any noted associations with those for other pollution variables. It is found that the log of acid aerosol concentrations is more strongly associated with raw total mortality in bivariate analyses than is BS or SO2, despite the fact that acid data are available from only one central site (versus seven disperse sites for BS and SO2). The logarithmic nature of the exposure side of the H2SO4-mortality relationship implies a saturation model of pollution effects, possibly due to multiday pollution harvesting influences on a susceptible subpopulation. Moreover, mortality-pollution cross-correlation analyses indicate that mortality effects usually follow pollution in time, supporting a causal relationship between the two. The apparent advantage of H2SO4 over BS in predicting total raw mortality is consistent with the hypothesis that it is the portion of particulate mass of greater health significance and may also allow the development of London mortality results which are more easily transferable to other environments than is the case for existing BS results.

Diagnosis, Death, and Diet: The Case of London, 1750-1909

The author questions the validity of recent research concerning the historical study of mortality trends in England. Specifically she suggests that the available data concerning the relationship between diet and mortality in London between 1750 and 1909 are too faulty to permit the application of sophisticated statistical methods. A critique is presented of a study by Mary K. Matossian on this topic. (ANNOTATION)

Diphtheria. The age incidence during epidemic years in London

Although the national statistics of the notifications of infectious diseases are defective with regard to age and sex, it has been established from the returns of London and other large towns that the mean age of attack from diphtheria has been increasing during the present century. The age shift has been from the pre-school to the school age. Several investigators have commented on the change in age incidence, Murphy (1907) reviewed the trend of mortality in London, and Chalmers (1913) the mortality of Scotland. Cheeseman, Martin & Russell (1939), as a result of an analysis of data kindly provided by the Medical Department of the London County Council, concluded that the change might be due to the decrease in size of family, especially in the more crowded districts. This would Jead to a decrease of morbidity at early ages and, as a consequence, a lower level of herd immunity at school ages, so that the epidemiological experience of the poorer districts would approximate to those of the middle-class districts. In this paper (pp. 188–9) reference was made to Turner's observation (1923) that both in London and Manchester the mean age of attack in epidemic years of scarlet fever was above the average, and it was shown that if the maximum weekly case rate of diphtheria in London (1897–1930) were correlated with the ratio of the number of cases at ages 0–4 to the number at 5–9, a significant negative value was reached. This finding was consistent with Turner's result, but it seemed of interest to apply a slightly more direct test by comparing years of heavy prevalence with adjacent years in which diphtheria was at a lower level.

An Instance of Exceptionally Low Maternal Mortality in London, and Some Comments on the Circumstances in Which It Has Been Secured

An Instance of Exceptionally Low Maternal Mortality in London, and Some Comments on the Circumstances in Which It Has Been Secured

Small-pox mortality in London 1887–96

Small-pox mortality in London 1887–96

SOME OF THE CAUSES OF THE GREAT MORTALITY IN INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD.

In discussing this important subject we will premise with the unquestionable proposition, viz., that in the main, physical human nature is the same the world over. Thus, conclusions derived from data from any nation, country or clime, with common environments peculiar to the subject under consideration are applicable to all. For instance, the causes that effect so great an infantile mortality in London or Paris, New York or Chicago, also exist to a greater or less degree in all large cities. The denser the massing together of human beings, the greater the multiplicity of causes of disease, and the inevitable calamitous results. The great variety of habits and customs of a conglomerate of races and nationalities, such as in this age of rapid and cheap transit, makes it almost impossible to prevent any large city from being a fertile field for every conceivable form of disease, and the helpless infant

The Recent Epidemic of Influenza

THE mortality in London from influenza shows a steady decline week by week; and, although the number of deaths is still in excess of the average, there are good reasons for hoping that the epidemic will shortly disappear from our midst. The severity of the recent visitation, as compared with that which prevailed last year, is clearly shown by the accompanying diagram, in which the effects of the two epidemics are displayed side by side. The weekly mortality from influenza alone is represented by the thick curve, the number of deaths from diseases of the respiratory system by the lighter curve, and the average number of deaths from disorders of the latter class by a dotted line. The average mortality from influenza is too small to permit of any curve being drawn upon the scale shown in the diagram.

The Relations between Human Mortality and the Seasons of the Year

AT the anniversary meeting of the Scottish Meteorological Society, a very valuable paper was read by Dr. Arthur Mitchell, and the Secretary, Mr. Alex. Buchan, giving an account of their investigations on the subject of the influence of the seasons on human mortality at different ages as caused by different diseases, The authors have calculated the weekly average death-rate of London for the past thirty years for thirty-one diseases, together with the averages of temperature, moisture, rain, &c. Considering the weather experienced in the course of the year as made up of several distinct climates differing from each other according to the prevailing temperature and moisture and their relations to each other, the influence of these climates, characterised respectively by cold, cold and dryness, dryness and heat, heat, heat and moisture, and cold and moisture, on the mortality was pointed out. The weekly mortality from all causes and at all ages shows a large excess above the average from the middle of November to the middle of April, from which it falls to the minimum in the end of May; it then slowly rises, and on the third week of July shoots suddenly up almost to the maximum of the year, at which it remains till the second week of August, and thence falls as rapidly as it rose to a secondary minimum in October. Regarding the summer excess in the death-rate, which is so abrupt in its rise and fall, it was shown that it is wholly due to one section of the population, viz. infants under five years of age, none of the curves for the other ages showing an excess in the death-rate from all causes during the summer months; and it was further shown that the summer excess is due not only to the deaths at one age, but to the deaths from one class of diseases, viz. bowel complaints. The importance of weekly averages in discussing these sudden fluctuations of the death-rate to the changes of the weather was pointedly referred to. Deducting the deaths from bowel complaints from the deaths from all causes, the curve assumes a simple form, viz. an excess in the cold months and a deficiency in the warm months. In other words, the curve of mortality is dictated by the large number of deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs. The curve of mortality in London has thus an inverse relation to the temperature, rising as the temperature falls, and falling as the temperature rises. On the other hand, in Victoria, Australia, the curves of mortality and temperature are directly related to each other—mortality and temperature rising and falling together. The character of the curve of mortality in Victoria is impressed on it by the deaths of persons below the age of five; and among such young persons the special diseases which determine this influence are diarrhœa and dysentery. This peculiarity arises from its higher mean temperature, 57°.6, as compared with that of London, 50°.0. In London also during the hottest months of the year the curves of mortality and temperature rise and fall together, whereas in Victoria the curves are throughout the whole year directly related; for though doubtless the deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs fall as the temperature rises, and rise as the temperature falls, yet the number of deaths from these diseases is, owing to the comparatively high winter temperature, never sufficiently large to influence the curve of the whole death-rate. The curves of mortality for bronchitis and pneumonia at different ages prove that the fluctuation is much less for pneumonia than for bronchitis, and that the excess in both cases of infant mortality is great, but not nearly so great as the infant mortality for diarrhoea. The curves show that the maximum mortality from the different diseases group around certain specific conditions of temperature and moisture combined, the general result of which, as regards the principal diseases, may be thus roughly stated:—

ROYAL INSTITUTION. Friday, March 28, 1840.: LECTURE ON THE STATISTICS OF MORTALITY AND DISEASES IN LONDON

ROYAL INSTITUTION. Friday, March 28, 1840.: LECTURE ON THE STATISTICS OF MORTALITY AND DISEASES IN LONDON

An account of a not ordinary burning concave, lately made in Lyons, and compared with several others made formerly

An opportunity being presented to revive the publishing of these papers, which for some moneths hath been discontinued by reason of the great mortality in London, where they were begun to be printed; it hath been thought fit to embrace the fame, and to make use thereof for the gratifying of the curious, that have been pleased to think well of such communications.