scholarly journals Did the 1918 influenza cause the twentieth century cardiovascular mortality epidemic in the United States?

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Tate ◽  
Jamie J. Namkung ◽  
Andrew Noymer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cardiovascular Mortality ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
1918 Influenza

During most of the twentieth century, cardiovascular mortality increased in the United States while other causes of death declined. By 1958, the age-standardized death rate (ASDR) for cardiovascular causes for females was 1.84 times that for all other causes,combined(and, for males, 1.79×). Although contemporary observers believed that cardiovascular mortality would remain high, the late 1950s and early 1960s turned out to be the peak of a roughly 70-year epidemic. By 1988 for females (1986 for males), a spectacular decline had occurred, wherein the ASDR for cardiovascular causes was less than that for other causes combined. We discuss this phenomenon from a demographic point of view. We also test a hypothesis from the literature, that the 1918 influenza pandemic caused the cardiovascular mortality epidemic; we fail to find support.

scholarly journals Influenza Circulation in United States Army Training Camps Before and During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Clues to Early Detection of Pandemic Viral Emergence

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S. Chertow ◽  
Rongman Cai ◽  
Junfeng Sun ◽  
John Grantham ◽  
Jeffery K. Taubenberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War I ◽  
United States Army ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
National Guard ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
1918 Influenza

Abstract Background.  Surveillance for respiratory diseases in domestic National Army and National Guard training camps began after the United States’ entry into World War I, 17 months before the “Spanish influenza” pandemic appeared. Methods.  Morbidity, mortality, and case-fatality data from 605 625 admissions and 18 258 deaths recorded for 7 diagnostic categories of respiratory diseases, including influenza and pneumonia, were examined over prepandemic and pandemic periods. Results.  High pandemic influenza mortality was primarily due to increased incidence of, but not increased severity of, secondary bacterial pneumonias. Conclusions.  Two prepandemic incidence peaks of probable influenza, in December 1917–January 1918 and in March–April 1918, differed markedly from the September–October 1918 pandemic onset peak in their clinical-epidemiologic features, and they may have been caused by seasonal or endemic viruses. Nevertheless, rising proportions of very low incidence postinfluenza bronchopneumonia (diagnosed at the time as influenza and bronchopneumonia) in early 1918 could have reflected circulation of the pandemic virus 5 months before it emerged in pandemic form. In this study, we discuss the possibility of detecting pandemic viruses before they emerge, by surveillance of special populations.

scholarly journals Racial Disparities in Mortality During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in United States Cities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Eiermann ◽  
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field ◽  
James J. Feigenbaum ◽  
Jonas Helgertz ◽  
Elaine Hernandez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Unexpected Result ◽  
1918 Influenza ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors

The 1918 influenza pandemic stands out because of the unusual age pattern of high mortality. In the United States, another feature merits scientific scrutiny: against a historical backdrop of extreme racial health inequality, the pandemic produced strikingly small ratios of nonwhite to white influenza and pneumonia mortality. We provide the most complete account to date of these racial disparities in 1918, showing that, across U.S. cities, they were almost uniformly small. We examine four potential explanations for this unexpected result, including [1] socio-demographic factors like segregation, [2] city-level implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), [3] exposure to the milder spring 1918 “herald wave,” and [4] early-life exposures to other influenza strains resulting in differential immunological vulnerability to the 1918 flu. While we find little evidence for 1-3, we offer suggestive evidence that racial variation in early-life exposure to the 1889-1892 influenza pandemic shrunk racial disparities during the 1918 pandemic. We also raise the possibility that differential behavioral responses to the herald wave may have protected nonwhite urban populations. By providing a comprehensive description and careful examination of the potential drivers of racial inequality in mortality during the 1918 pandemic, our study provides a framework to consider interactions between the natural history of particular microbial agents and the social histories of the populations they infect.

scholarly journals 1363Just a flu? Comparing COVID-19 and influenza mortality

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Muscatello ◽  
Peter McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
Influenza Season ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Epidemiological Methods ◽  
Influenza Pandemics ◽  
Specific Mortality ◽  
Standardized Mortality Ratios ◽  
1918 Influenza

Abstract Background Benchmarks are needed for assessing the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, comparisons can be misleading unless marked differences in age-specific mortality and differences in population age structure are considered. Methods Using COVID-19 death rates for New York City as at 2 June 2020, we used indirect age standardization to estimate standardized mortality ratios (SMR) for the first winter waves of the 1918 and 2009 influenza pandemics and the severe 2017-2018 influenza season in the United States (US). Data were obtained from published statistics. Results After adjusting for age, New York City’s death rate during the 1918 winter influenza pandemic wave was 6.7 times higher overall compared with the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020. New York City's first wave COVID-19 death rate was an estimated 59 times higher than that of the 2009 US influenza pandemic, and 14 times higher than that of the severe 2017-2018 influenza season. In < 45 year-olds, the 1918 influenza death rate was 42 times higher than COVID-19 in 2020. In ≥ 65 year-olds, compared with the 2009 pandemic, the COVID-19 death rate was 320 times higher, while in children it was one half. Conclusions The 1918 pandemic was more deadly than COVID-19, which was, in turn, far more deadly than both the 2009 influenza pandemic and severe seasonal influenza. Age-specific mortality differences should be considered in decisions on COVID-19 vaccination strategies. Key messages Fundamental epidemiological methods remain valuable for modern epidemic risk assessment. COVID-19 is not just a ‘flu’.

scholarly journals A partire da «Underworld»

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Turi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Nuclear Threat ◽  
Contemporary Novel ◽  
Verbal Representation ◽  
Continuous Interaction ◽  
Textual Strategies

The volume is a commentary on Don DeLillo’s hypertrophic novel Underworld (1997). Starting from the analysis of the text – which intertwines several plots, locations and point of view –, Nicola Turi retraces the entire production of the author to follow the evolution of themes (paranoia, nuclear threat, alienation, violence…) and textual strategies. At the same times he considers some widespread trends in the contemporary novel which Underworld, narrative tableau of the United States of the second twentieth century, embodies or anticipates: the resumption of the collective novel; the construction of characters drawn from reality; the continuous interaction between verbal representation and image (both static and moving).

scholarly journals Trends in the Causes of Death among Kidney Transplant Recipients in the United States (1996–2014)

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 472-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed A. Awan ◽  
Jingbo Niu ◽  
Jenny S. Pan ◽  
Kevin F. Erickson ◽  
Sreedhar Mandayam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Kidney Transplant ◽  
Cardiovascular Mortality ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Graft Loss ◽  
Graft Function ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Transplant Recipients ◽  
Kidney Transplant Recipients

Background: Death with graft function remains an important cause of graft loss among kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). Little is known about the trend of specific causes of death in KTRs in recent years. Methods: We analyzed United States Renal Data System data (1996–2014) to determine 1- and 10-year all-cause and cause-specific mortality in adult KTRs who died with a functioning allograft. We also studied 1- and 10-year trends in the various causes of mortality. Results: Of 210,327 KTRs who received their first kidney transplant from 1996 to 2014, 3.2% died within 1 year after transplant. Cardiovascular deaths constituted the majority (24.7%), followed by infectious (15.2%) and malignant (2.9%) causes; 40.1% of deaths had no reported cause. Using 1996 as the referent year, all-cause as well as cardiovascular mortality declined, whereas mortality due to malignancy did not. For analyses of 10-year mortality, we studied 94,384 patients who received a first kidney transplant from 1996 to 2005. Of those, 22.1% died over 10 years and the causative patterns of their causes of death were similar to those associated with 1-year mortality. Conclusions: Despite the downtrend in mortality over the last 2 decades, a significant percentage of KTRs die in 10-years with a functioning graft, and cardiovascular mortality remains the leading cause of death. These data also highlight the need for diligent collection of mortality data in KTRs.

Politics, Pushback, and Pandemics: Challenges to Public Health Orders in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-422
Author(s):  
J. Alexander Navarro ◽  
Howard Markel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
Local Politicians ◽  
1918 Influenza

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, many state governors faced an increasing number of acts of defiance as well as political and legal challenges to their public health emergency orders. Less well studied are the similar acts of protest that occurred during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic, when residents, business owners, clergy, and even local politicians grew increasingly restless by the ongoing public health measures, defied public health edicts, and agitated to have them rescinded. We explore several of the themes that emerged during the late fall of 1918 and conclude that, although the nation seems to be following the same path as it did in 1918, the motivations for pushback to the 2020 pandemic are decidedly more political than they were a century ago.

International Unions and Their Administration

1907 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul S. Reinsch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Function ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
As If

The dominant note of political development during the nineteenth century was undoubtedly nationalism, and the political forces of the century, intricate and involved as their action was, may be understood and analyzed with the greatest clearness from the point of view of the struggle for complete national existence and unity which was going on in all the principal countries of the earth. Nations are readily personified, and there is a unity and sequence in their action which makes it appear very concrete when compared with other political influences and movements. Thus, when toward the end of the century, after the great struggles in the United States, Germany, and Italy had been decided in favor of the national principle, it seemed as if the latter were bound to exercise an almost exclusive sway over the future destinies of humanity, as if the twentieth century would be taken up with a fierce economic and military competition among the nationalities who had achieved a complete political existence. Under such conditions, international or diplomatic action would have had for its main function the maintenance of a political balance or equilibrium which would prevent the undue aggrandizement of any one state or nation. Such indeed had been the original and continuing purpose of diplomatic action.

Bipartisanship as Possible Alternative of Russian Political System Evolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 256-265
Author(s):  
Konstantin V. Simonov ◽  
Stanislav P. Mitrakhovich
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
Practical Advice ◽  
Simultaneous Separation

The article examines the possibility of transfer to bipartisan system in Russia. The authors assess the benefits of the two-party system that include first of all the ensuring of actual political competition and authority alternativeness with simultaneous separation of minute non-system forces that may contribute to the country destabilization. The authors analyze the accompanying risks and show that the concept of the two-party system as the catalyst of elite schism is mostly exaggerated. The authors pay separate attention to the experience of bipartisan system implementation in other countries, including the United States. They offer detailed analysis of the generated concept of the bipartisanship crisis and show that this point of view doesn’t quite agree with the current political practice. The authors also examine the foreign experience of the single-party system. They show that the success of the said system is mostly insubstantial, besides many of such systems have altered into more complex structures, while commentators very often use not the actual information but the established myths about this or that country. The authors also offer practical advice regarding the potential technologies of transition to the bipartisan system in Russia.

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