Some Notes on Pneumonia Statistics in Glasgow with Special Reference to Children under Five Years of Age

Abstract

1. Notification and hospitalisation have had no apparent effect on the death rate from pneumonia in Glasgow.2. The notifications of pneumonia do not represent the true incidence of the disease, though there is reason to believe that in Glasgow they represent about 76 per cent. of the total cases.3. It has been shown that in Glasgow the pneumonia mortality in children under five years is closely related to environmental conditions.4. Evidence has been adduced to suggest that the mortality figures for pneumonia in children under five years are considerably influenced by out breaks of measles and whooping cough, especially the former.5. There has been in Glasgow since 1855 a striking alteration in the conception of what constitutes bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia in children under five years; what is now recognised as broncho-pneumonia once was largely certified as bronchitis.