Pediatrics, Public Health, and Infant Mortality in the Early 20th Century

Classics in Pediatrics

“…We started in the 1910s with the nation's attention to child and infant health, when our economic and military strength was threatened by infectious diseases that took the lives of 1 in 5 children. 1 In the 1920s and 1930s, we witnessed the early discovery of chronic illness, as diabetes mellitus was transformed by the discovery of insulin 2 and chronic orthopedic impairments emerged when lethal infectious diseases subsided. 3 Widespread use of effective antibiotics 4 and vaccines 5 in the mid20th century was proof that our nation's faith in scientific medicine was well placed, and by the 1960s, we hoped that even seemingly intractable conditions such as mental retardation would yield to scientific advances in understanding human metabolism.…”