The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-09-27
MORTALITY RATE
F ,g1i0NER
Women Fast Losing the Ad-
vantage They Formerly Had,
Statistics Show.


Washington. -yY omen are kssf losing
the advantage which they have pos
sessed in the past Of lower rate Of
mortality than mem it is Indicated BY
life insurance statistics. The excess
mortality Of men over women, it is
said, has been one OF the supposed
fixed relationships in vital statistics.
In the United States the death rate
Of makes has always been found to
be higher than that Of females at
every age period from birth TIL
death and this condition has pre-
vailed quite generally throughout the
civilized world. N recent years, how
ever, the mortality Of females has
actually been higher than that OF
us&ges among the Industrial policy
hs3ders Of. the insurance. companies In
the United States and Canada. In 1911
the mortality Of white males insured
IN one company was more than 10 per
cent higher than among females.
While the actual excess in male NOR
tally varied somewhat from year to
year. the condition continued up TO
and including 1918.
Change Also Noted in Negro Race.
The year 1919 was marked By a
sudden drop to about per cent, and
by 1920 a reversal in the relationship
had become a fact, with the female
mortality s26s per cent above that Of
males. In 1921 It was IL per cent
higher. In 1922 the condition was
again changed to an excess OF IL per
cent IN Easle mortality over that Of
females.
In the Negro race the difference
between the death rate Of the two
sexes was never 50 strikfngly marked.
but. nevertheless, between 1912 and
1918 thesexeess Of male mortality was
continuous. varying from 2 to about
10 per cent The year 1919 was the
first year IN which the mortality Of
females actually exceeded that for
males, and this condition has d4htin-
ned since, including the. year 1922.
The fact that reversal appears
among both white and negro lives is
considered significant Very similar
relationships In the mortality rates OF
males and fenaleS are apparently in
dIcafed it Is polnted cut, In the fig
ures for the registration area during
the corresponding years. and fight Ia
thrSvn on the possible factors by con-
sid-ratiea of the sge perisds Of life
where these changes were most pro
nounced.
Greatest at Child Bearing Ags.
It is shown that among white per-
sens the excess 81 female mortality
was entirely limited to the ages Of
twenty to thirty-four IN 1921 and 70
fifteen to thirty-four in 1920 Among
the negroes it occurred between the
ages Of ten and thirty-four In 1921.
ten and twenty In 1919 and one
and thirty -four in 1920 After age OF
thirty-fve the male mortality has con-
ttnued to be higher than the female
&rougheut the rest Of life
The ages. says the report, are def
n@tely those Of child-bearing. They
are also the ages at which the infiu-
enzs epidemic made its greatest in
roads and in which tuberculosis
showed the most pronounced decreases
during the last decad de. 1t is entirely
comments the ststistician,
that sash gne Of these three items
played sn Important part in the phe-
Ronenen under consideration Atten-
ton hassbsen repeatedly called in re-
cent years to the excessive mortality
among women from causes Incidental
10 pregnancy and child bearing, these
excessive maternal death rates having
shown, It is said. the greatest reluc-
lance toward Improvement.
The Influenza epidemic. beginning
with 1913. ii is thought. may have
been the exciting cause for much OF
this Increased maternal mortality, II
been noted early in the iBfiu-
snA outbreaks that women at the
ages suffered excessively
froa the disease This condition has
been marked with each new outbreak
Of influenza. Fl is further brought
forward thar there IS NO question as
10 the gTNter reduction of tubercu-
osis mortality among males than
among females, and this Is strikingiy
marked ia the ages under considers
ton.