Epilepsy : a study of the idiopathic disease.

  • Turner, William Aldren, 1864-1945.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Epilepsy : a study of the idiopathic disease. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    Table 2, showing the percentage of males and females afflicted with Epilepsy, as stated by various authorities. Name. Total Cases. Percentage. Males. Percentage. Females. Gowers1 (England) 3,000 48 52 Tigges (Mecklenburg) - 639 44 55 Echeverria2 (U.S.A.) - 306 42 58 Spratling3 (U.S.A.) 1,582 60 40 Sinkler (U.S.A.) - 1,024 53 47 Binswanger4 (Germany) 61 38 From this it is evident that the first three writers, representing three separate countries, give a larger percentage of female than male epileptics, while the statistics of the three last show the converse. The second method is to ascertain the total number of deaths from epilepsy in any given year and the proportion of males and females who annually succumb to this disease. However, in this method there is more scope for error, as many deaths arising from eclampsia, and other convulsive affections in adult life, may be ascribed to epilepsy. Spratling gives the figures from the United States Census Bureau for a number of years, in all of which the male mortality was considerably in excess of the female. I have taken the following figures from the Reports of the Registrar General, recording the deaths from epilepsy in England and Wales (exclusive of London) for the last three years of which the Reports are available. In 1902 1593 males 1412 females. „ 1903 1598 „ 1454 „ 1904 1557 „ 1357 From these figures it is obvious that from one to two hundred more males die annually from epilepsy than females. As it would be of interest to compare these figures with the number of deaths from insanity, the figures have been annexed 1 Gowers, Epilepxy, 2nd edition, 1901, p. 15. 2 Echeverria, Epilepmj, New York, 1870. 3 Spratling, Epikpxy, New York, 1904, p. 56. 4 Binswanger, Die Epilepsie, 1899, pp. 173 and 174.