The dissertation analyses the Statistical Reports on the Health of the Royal Navy circa 1850 to 1899 in order to gain an insight into the factors affecting the mortality decline in the Royal Navy. An examination of factors affecting data quality issues is conducted, including problems of diagnosis and retrodiagnosis. The dissertation then examines disease risk factors related to naval life. Naval nutrition is also scrutinised as well as the energy demands placed on naval seamen. Analysis of the disease data is then conducted. The analysis reveals that the mortality decline in the Royal Navy was overwhelmingly resultant from declines in cardiovascular disease and tuberculosis mortality. High levels of cardiovascular disease are shown to have been related to the navy¿s blue water diet, which incorporated very high quantities of salt meat. Improvements in preservation methods are hypothesised to have resulted in healthier meat, which in turn resulted in a decrease in cardiovascular disease mortality. The analysis also reveals that the naval mortality decline was overwhelmingly due to a decline in tuberculosis mortality. This decline is hypothesised to have been the result of an improved nutritional status amongst seamen. Increased nutritional status was itself the result of more generous rations. It is also hypothesised to have been due to lower rates of non lethal disease, as non lethal disease placed a great strain on available energy. It is suggested that this decrease in non lethal disease was itself the result of improved sanitation in port cities. The dissertation concludes by relating these findings to the broader mortality decline that took place in Europe during the second half of the 19th century.
...MoreDescription Defense date not indicated; cited by UMI in 2010. Cited in ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing. Proquest Document ID: 1314574836.
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