A study of the relation between the treatment of tubercular patients in general institutions and the reduction in the death-rate from tuberculosis : report / by Arthur Newsholme.

  • Newsholme, Arthur, 1857-1943.
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A study of the relation between the treatment of tubercular patients in general institutions and the reduction in the death-rate from tuberculosis : report / by Arthur Newsholme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Berlin. 1877-80 1881-85 1880-90 1891-95 1890-00 1901-05 Dealh-rnlo from Phthisis per 100 000 of population. ' 357 552 294 251 215 204 No. of Patients Proportion with Phthisis i treated in Ilospi- v 87 90 92 <>2 108 150 between \ tals and leaving i (1901-02) 100 deaths ' them alive. from Phtisis 1 No. of Patients in Berlin and j with Phthisis | 44 55 48 40 41 54 1 dying in | IIos})itals. ' (1901-(.2) If we apply the same method to the Prussian statistics as was used for Brighton, assuming that the death-rate from tuberculosis will decline in each group of years according to the percentage of total deaths from tuberculosis occurring in hospitals in the preceding group of years, the following result is obtained : 1877-80 1881-84 188G-89 1800-95 1894-97 1898-09 (Calculated death-rale from Tuberculosis.. — 295 271 246 219 195 Actual )) > . . 516 511 282 260 225 199 The experience of Berlin does not lend itself to the same test, as an impossible result would be obtained if reduction in this city were assumed to occur in proportion to the number of consumptives dying in its hospitals. More knowledge of local conditions is required and particularly of duration of stay in general hospitals, before any at- tempt can be made at a general quantitative statement, though the above figures for Prussia are curiously similar to figures similarly calculated for Brighton and for Brussels. It cannot reasonably be expected, even il my contention be accepted, that hospital treatment of consumptives and particularly of advanced consumptives has been a prominent means of reducing the death-rate from tuberculosis, that reduction in any given district will always be proportionate to the number of consumptive patients institutionally treated in that district. Migration of patients to and from towns is common, and statistics arc greatly needed giving tlie duration of stay of consump- tive patients in the hospitals of each district. n.s made are illuslralive and diagvamrnalic^ but in the complex conditions to which they relate cannot be a quantitative guide. The case must be judged on its general merits, and especially it Jiiiist be remember- ed that the probability of a given infenmcc respecting an infective