5 200 Diarrhea And Enteritis
Mortality Statistics Of Insured Wage Earners And Their Families © 1919
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CHAPTER XII.
DIARRHEA AND ENTERITIS.
The data for diarrhea and enteritis presented in this report do
not distinguish between infantile diarrhea as classified under Title
No. 104 of the International List, and diarrhea and enteritis
(affecting persons two years of age and over) as compiled under
Title No. 105. The largest proportion of the deaths from infantile
diarrhea and enteritis occurs in the general population under one
year of age. Since no persons under one year of age are included
in this insurance experience, a distinction in our figures of the
type of diarrhea would affect only those deaths between ages one
and two. These have no great significance. This accounts for the
decision to combine the two titles. There were included under the
title, thus understood, all forms of inflammatory, ulcerative or
catarrhal conditions of the intestines or of the gastroenteric tract
where the intestines were chiefly involved, except those definitely
reported as due to tuberculous, cancerous, dysenteric or other
primary factors.
It should he remembered that this cause of death may be either
primary or secondary. Only the presumably primary cases are
listed in this experience, and these eases result, especially among
children, from the use of improper food, from various toxic sub-
stances produced in the decomposition of food, from the extreme
heat of summer; or, as in senility, from changes in the constitution
of intestinal secretions. These constitute the larger proportion
of the cases in the insurance experience. The secondary cases of
diarrhea and enteritis follow certain infectious diseases such as true
dysentery and typhoid fever; they also follow circulatory disturb-
ances which cause a catarrhal enteritis of chronic character, and
they are common in diseases of the liver and in chronic conditions
of the heart and lungs, as well as in cachectic conditions such as
cancer, pernicious anemia and Bright’s disease. None of the above
is included in the present discussion.
The total number of deaths assigned to the combined title during
the period between 1911 and 1916 was 14,173. These deaths ac-
14 193
