Evening star., 1936-04-18
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS R. HENRY
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Diseases Of the heart, now the leading
cause Of death in the United States, are
more significant in the mortality tables
of the District of Columbia than for
the country as whole or for the aver
age city population.
This is one of the findings of survey
just reported by Dr. o. F. Hadley of the
United States Public Health Service. He
found also that the heart disease sta
tistics for the District afford an excellent
picture of the age, sex and seasonal
vagaries Of these maladies.
There is a steady increase with age
after the 25th year. Presumably every
body will die of some malady of the
heart if they live long enough. Cardiac
disorders, however, are much more
notable in the colored race than in the
white race, and white women especially
living relatively sheltered lives, have a
very good record.
The high rate Of the District, Dr.
Hedley reports, most probably is due
to the large colored population, many
adult Government workers, the presence
of elderly parents of Government work.
ers who come to Washington to live with
their children, the transient nature Of
certain elements of the population, the
large number of retired Government
workers who continue to live here, and
the presence of Federal hospitals and
institutions.
Besides the age and sex vagaries, the
report shows, there is curious seasonal
variation, with deaths from heart mala-
dies considerably more prevalent in
Winter. This, DR.. Hedley explains,
doubtless is due to the fact that persons
with weak hearts prove much less re-
sistant to the numerous respiratory in
fections which come with the cold
months.
Despite the fact that only small pro-
portion of deaths from heart disease
occur in persons under Is years Of age,
Dr. Hedley points out in his report, 1t
still is a problem of considerable public
health significance for this age group.
There is tendency to minimize its i'm
portance during this period because, in
contrast to other age brackets, relatively
few deaths are reported. The fact re-
mains that in 1882 there were 50 deaths
of persons under Is due to heart all
ments of some sort-nearly as great as
the combined death rates of typhoid
fever, whooping cough and diphtheria
for all ages.
In the group from IS to "A years of
age, the importance of heart disease
becomes felt to a greater extent. It is
responsible for deaths at the rate Of
155 per 100000 among white males and
65 per 1000 among white females. The
death rate in this period is nearly four
times as great among the colored as
among the white-408 per 100000 Tor
males and $50 for females.
For the age bracket Of As to 54 years
the death rate of 395 per 100000 among
white males, as compared with 12O
among white females, or more than
three times as high for one sex as for
the other. Among the colored males
the death rate is 728 per 100000, COM
pared to 1886 among colored females.
The death rate during this period Is
three times higher among the colored
than among the white population, and
nearly seven times higher among coll
ored than among white females.
In the group IS to GA years Of age