Thesis ID: CBB001561758

Morbidity and the 19th-Century Decline of Mortality: An Analysis of the Military Population of Gibraltar, 1818 to 1899 (2004)

unapi

Padiak, Janet (Author)


University of Toronto
Sawchuk, L. A.


Publication Date: 2004
Edition Details: Advisor: Sawchuk, L. A.
Physical Details: 252 pp.
Language: English

The decline of mortality and the transformation of human health, characterized by low mortality rates, increased longevity and higher global population, has been called one of the great themes of history, second only to the origin of life, and its patterns and causes have been a subject of controversy for over sixty years. Scholars have debated the causes of mortality decline, suggesting better nutrition, better sanitation, better medical care or more spacious dwellings as responsible. Researchers have depended almost exclusively upon mortality figures to set out the logic of their conclusions. This thesis uses evidence from the garrison of Gibraltar to investigate the role of morbidity in the 19{super}th{/super} century decline of mortality. Based upon British army data, the study looks at the morbidity and mortality relationships of four groups, troops, officers, women and children, but focuses on the data for ordinary soldiers. Ratios of morbidity to mortality indicate that, throughout the 82 years of the study period, mortality decreased at a much greater rate than morbidity. Furthermore, categories of diseases did not fall in concert and, in some categories, morbidity rose as mortality dropped. Regression analysis highlights the categories of diseases that were most influential in the decline of morbidity and mortality. The data, coupled with analyses of reports by regimental medical officers, suggest that, in addition to sanitary improvements, changes in medical practice, broadly interpreted, were effective in reducing mortality of the men of the garrison of Gibraltar. Analysis of the large volume of 19{super}th{/super} century army data required the development of a system within a relational database program that nested causes of death in linked tables. This allowed highly specific and sensitive disease data to be integrated with data that were less specific or used outdated terminology, permitting the use of mixed data for diachronic analyses. The thesis also includes a demographic study of the garrison population from a census taken in 1878 and a reconstruction of military medical care in the garrison of Gibraltar from 1818 to the advent of the germ theory in the 1880s.

...More

Description Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 65 (2005): 3890. UMI pub. no. NQ94238.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001561758/

Similar Citations

Article Pedro Fatjó; Roser Nicolau; (2016)
Morbilidad y mortalidad de los soldados del ejército español, 1886-1933 (/isis/citation/CBB284318094/)

Article Alex Menez; (2018)
The Gibraltar Skull: Early History, 1848–1868 (/isis/citation/CBB995042602/)

Article Lino Camprubí; (2018)
Experiencing Deep and Global Currents at a ‘prototypical Strait’, 1870s and 1980s (/isis/citation/CBB157169284/)

Article Poppel, F. van; Beekink, E.; (2001)
De biometer in kaart gebracht. Zuigelingen- en totale sterftecijfers voor Nederlandse gemeenten, 1812-1939 (/isis/citation/CBB000100567/)

Article Hanley, James; (2002)
Edwin Chadwick and the Poverty of Statistics (/isis/citation/CBB000200379/)

Chapter Suzanne Raitt; (2017)
Immoral Science in The Picture of Dorian Gray (/isis/citation/CBB207341935/)

Article Barker-Benfield, G. J.; (2012)
Stillbirth and Sensibility: The Case of Abigail and John Adams (/isis/citation/CBB001200579/)

Article Harris, Bernard; Gorsky, Martin; Guntupalli, Aravinda; Hinde, Andrew; (2011)
Ageing, Sickness and Health in England and Wales during the Mortality Transition (/isis/citation/CBB001210679/)

Article Fariñas, Diego Ramiro; Sanz Gimeno, Alberto; (2000)
Childhood mortality in Central Spain, 1790-1960: Changes in the course of demographic modernization (/isis/citation/CBB000111201/)

Article Noymer, Andrew; Jarosz, Beth; (2008)
Causes of Death in Nineteenth-Century New England: The Dominance of Infectious Disease (/isis/citation/CBB000930682/)

Article Daniel C.S. Wilson; (2018)
Babbage Among the Insurers: Big 19th-Century Data and the Public Interest (/isis/citation/CBB082253889/)

Article Murray, John E.; (2003)
Social Insurance Claims as Morbidity Estimates: Sickness or Absence? (/isis/citation/CBB000770495/)

Authors & Contributors
Rose, Edward P. F.
Menez, Alex
Roser Nicolau
Muigai, Wangui
Pedro Fatjó
Wilson, Daniel C. S.
Concepts
Mortality
Medicine
Disease and diseases
Public health
Medicine and culture
Children
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
Places
Gibraltar
Great Britain
England
United States
Spain
Oxford (England)
Institutions
Great Britain. Royal Engineers
Great Britain. Geological Survey
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment