UNCHANGING PATTERN OF PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS

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  • 1 January 1963
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 89  (15) , 737-+
Abstract
The mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis in Ontario between 1881 and 1961 reveals a steady decline since the beginning of this century. This decline has been much faster in the younger than in the older age groups. When the mortality rates are studied for groups of men and women born with 10-year periods (10-year cohorts) an orderly pattern of mortality emerges, consisting of 2 distinct phenomena. First, the shape of the "cohort" curves is always similar the mortality rates rise sharply in childhood and the peak is reached in early adult life, followed by a gradual descent. This appears to be a basic but unexplained feature of pulmonary tuberculosis. Secondly, each cohort shows through its life span a lower mortality rate than the previous cohort, but a higher rate than the succeeding one; it is suggested that this is primarly due to a decline in intensity of tuberculous infection over the past several decades. The high tuberculosis rates seen now in the elderly are but the residue of the much higher rates experienced by these people early in their lives.

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