Possibilities of Reducing Mortality at the Higher Age Groups: Read Before the Section on Vital Statistics, American Public Health Association, Colorado Springs, September, 1913 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Possibilities of Reducing Mortality at the Higher Age Groups: Read Before the Section on Vital Statistics, American Public Health Association, Colorado Springs, September, 1913 Particular interest has been concentrated, during the last decade, on the mortality at the higher age groups. The unfavorable changes which have been observed in the death-rates at these ages are in striking contrast to the conditions at the younger ages, where, during the last fifty years, marked improvements have occurred in both sexes. This contrast has occasioned much comment from sanitarians, the medical profession, and especially from insurance executives, who, as you can well understand, are deeply concerned with the vast possibilities of checking losses from premature mortality. The interest of the community, however, is paramount to all others in view of the great value to it of each adult, not only in economic terms, but also in the larger social aspects which are involved in the serious disturbances to family life resulting from the death of a parent or a wage earner. A very significant contribution to the discussion of the subject is the report of Dr. Irving Fisher of the Committee of One Hundred on National Health. In this report, Doctor Fisher pointed out that the causes of death which predominate at the higher age groups were preventable to a degree, and that, if the diseases and conditions involved were controlled to the extent of the facilities of modern medicine and sanitary science, there would be added to the expectation of life at least one and one-half years at age 45. This judgment of Doctor Fisher is extremely conservative in view of the fact that his estimates did not include the possible saving from tuberculosis, which is a considerable mortality factor at the older ages, and also because he assigned no coefficient of preventability to the various forms of cancer, which, since his writing, have shown a large measure of possible control. It is impossible at this time to estimate in years and days with any degree of precision what saving in middle life can be accomplished. But it is increasingly evident to competent observers that the attitude taken by Doctor Fisher was more than justified and that the possibilities for human conservation at the present time are much more hopeful than they seemed five years ago. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.