TY - JOUR
T1 - Regional and Racial Inequality in Infectious Disease Mortality in U.S. Cities, 1900–1948
AU - Feigenbaum, James J.
AU - Muller, Christopher
AU - Wrigley-Field, Elizabeth
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Population Association of America.
PY - 2019/8/15
Y1 - 2019/8/15
N2 - In the first half of the twentieth century, the rate of death from infectious disease in the United States fell precipitously. Although this decline is well-known and well-documented, there is surprisingly little evidence about whether it took place uniformly across the regions of the United States. We use data on infectious disease deaths from all reporting U.S. cities to describe regional patterns in the decline of urban infectious mortality from 1900 to 1948. We report three main results. First, urban infectious mortality was higher in the South in every year from 1900 to 1948. Second, infectious mortality declined later in southern cities than in cities in the other regions. Third, comparatively high infectious mortality in southern cities was driven primarily by extremely high infectious mortality among African Americans. From 1906 to 1920, African Americans in cities experienced a rate of death from infectious disease that was greater than what urban whites experienced during the 1918 flu pandemic.
AB - In the first half of the twentieth century, the rate of death from infectious disease in the United States fell precipitously. Although this decline is well-known and well-documented, there is surprisingly little evidence about whether it took place uniformly across the regions of the United States. We use data on infectious disease deaths from all reporting U.S. cities to describe regional patterns in the decline of urban infectious mortality from 1900 to 1948. We report three main results. First, urban infectious mortality was higher in the South in every year from 1900 to 1948. Second, infectious mortality declined later in southern cities than in cities in the other regions. Third, comparatively high infectious mortality in southern cities was driven primarily by extremely high infectious mortality among African Americans. From 1906 to 1920, African Americans in cities experienced a rate of death from infectious disease that was greater than what urban whites experienced during the 1918 flu pandemic.
KW - Economic history
KW - Epidemiological transition
KW - Inequality
KW - Infectious disease
KW - Mortality
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U2 - 10.1007/s13524-019-00789-z
DO - 10.1007/s13524-019-00789-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 31197611
AN - SCOPUS:85067806634
SN - 0070-3370
VL - 56
SP - 1371
EP - 1388
JO - Demography
JF - Demography
IS - 4
ER -