Urban Infant Mortality in Imperial Germany

Vögele, Jörg

doi:10.1093/shm/7.3.401

Cited by 36 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…The ability of a given population to provide the biocultural means for a child's survival once it is born provides an insight into their adaptive success. Today in industrialized countries, sanitation measures ensure that the vast majority of infant deaths are due to endogenous factors (Stockwell, 1993), but the reverse was true in urban centers of the past (Vögele, 1994). The biometric model has been used by historical demographers to identify, among other things, breastfeeding patterns.…”

Section: Endogenous Versus Exogenous Infant Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Brief and precarious lives: Infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post‐medieval England (AD 850–1859)

Lewis

Gowland

2007

American J Phys Anthropol

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This study compares the infant mortality profiles of 128 infants from two urban and two rural cemetery sites in medieval England. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of urbanization and industrialization in terms of endogenous or exogenous causes of death. In order to undertake this analysis, two different methods of estimating gestational age from long bone lengths were used: a traditional regression method and a Bayesian method. The regression method tended to produce more marked peaks at 38 weeks, while the Bayesian method produced a broader range of ages and were more comparable with the expected "natural" mortality profiles.At all the sites, neonatal mortality (28-40 weeks) outweighed post-neonatal mortality (41-48 weeks) with rural Raunds Furnells in Northamptonshire, showing the highest number of neonatal deaths and post-medieval Spitalfields, London, showing a greater proportion of deaths due to exogenous or environmental factors. Of the four sites under study, Wharram Percy in Yorkshire showed the most convincing "natural" infant mortality profile, suggesting the inclusion of all births at the site (i.e., stillbirths and unbaptised infants).

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Section: Endogenous Versus Exogenous Infant Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Brief and precarious lives: Infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post‐medieval England (AD 850–1859)

Lewis

Gowland

2007

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…One historical analysis showed that, although for much of the nineteenth century infant mortality rates in Imperial Germany were higher in urban areas than they were in nonurban areas, there was a dramatic improvement in infant mortality rates in urban areas starting in the 1870s, which preceded a comparable decline in mortality in the rest of the country (126). This analysis suggested that improvements in the urban environment were responsible for this rapid improvement in infant health in Imperial Germany and that this pattern was typical of the pattern observed at around the same time in many European industrialized societies (112).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

URBAN HEALTH: Evidence, Challenges, and Directions

Galea

Vlahov

2005

Annu. Rev. Public Health

384

265

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■ Abstract Urbanization is one of the most important demographic shifts worldwide during the past century and represents a substantial change from how most of the world's population has lived for the past several thousand years. The study of urban health considers how characteristics of the urban environment may affect population health. This paper reviews the empirical research assessing urban living's impact on population health and our rationale for considering the study of urban health as a distinct field of inquiry. The key factors affecting health in cities can be considered within three broad themes: the physical environment, the social environment, and access to health and social services. The methodologic and conceptual challenges facing the study of urban health, arising both from the limitations of the research to date and from the complexities inherent in assessing the relations among complex urban systems, disease causation, and health are discussed.

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“… 28 Brown (forthcoming), Davis (1973), Duffy (1990), Haines (2001), McKeown and Record (1962), Meeker (1972, 1974), Melosi (2000), Preston and Haines (1991), Voegele (1994), and Williamson (1982, 1990). …”

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confidence: 99%

Survival in 19th century cities: The larger the city, the smaller your chances

Cain

Hong

2009

Explorations in Economic History

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Using Union Army veterans' lifetime socioeconomic and health records, this essay finds a consistent and persistent hierarchy in survival rates and hazard ratios by urban size at and across three stages of life: birth, late adolescence, and death. This urban mortality penalty remains after controlling for variables associated with each individual veteran. The results of our geographical mobility analyses suggest that, with respect to these veterans, the search for an explanation should focus on late adolescence and adulthood as much as on early life. A complete explanation of the penalty requires a project of greater scope. Keywordsurban mortality penalty; cohort analysis; survival rate; hazard ratio; mobility Although it is widely known that, during the 19th century, life expectancy was substantially lower in cities than in rural areas, the differences in survival rates and proportional hazard ratios across urban sizes and rural environments are less well understood. 1 Further, the longitudinal impact of lifetime mobility on life expectancy during this period rarely has been studied. This essay examines these less explored subjects using historical data from Union Army veterans' lifetime socioeconomic and health records collected by the Center for Population Economics (CPE). In particular, using veterans who survived the Civil War, survival rates and hazard ratios are estimated for different urban size and rural environmental categories at three stages of life: birth, late adolescence, and death. We also exploit the association with the local malaria ecology to differentiate rural areas.Our analyses show a persistent urban mortality penalty for all three stages of life even after controlling for health-related events incurred during the Civil War and those incurred by Contact Information for Corresponding Author (Sok Chul Hong) Mailing Address: School of Economics, Sogang University, Shinsudong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea 121-742, Email: shong@sogang.ac.kr, Telephone: +82-2-705-4705, Fax: +82-2-705-8180. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. 1 For example, in 1899, Weber (1899 reported life expectancy at birth in the cities of Massachusetts was almost seven years less than that in the state as a whole. See also Condran and Crimmins (1980), Glover (1921), Haines (1977), United Nations (1953), Vinovskis (1981), and Woods et al. (1988). NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptExplor Econ Hist. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 October 1. Published in final edited form as:Explor Econ Hist. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscri...

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Urban Infant Mortality in Imperial Germany

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Brief and precarious lives: Infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post‐medieval England (AD 850–1859)

Brief and precarious lives: Infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post‐medieval England (AD 850–1859)

URBAN HEALTH: Evidence, Challenges, and Directions

Survival in 19th century cities: The larger the city, the smaller your chances

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