• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

1918 pandemic morbidity: the first wave hits the poor, the second wave hits the rich

tetano

Editor, Senior Moderator
nfluenza Other Respir Viruses. 2018 Jan 21. doi: 10.1111/irv.12541. [Epub ahead of print] [h=1]1918 pandemic morbidity: the first wave hits the poor, the second wave hits the rich.[/h] Mamelund SE[SUP]1[/SUP].
[h=3]Author information[/h]

[h=3]Abstract[/h] [h=4]BACKGROUND:[/h] Whether morbidity from the 1918-19 influenza pandemic discriminated by socioeconomic status has remained a subject of debate for 100 years. In lack of data to study this issue recent literature have hypothesized that morbidity was "socially neutral".
[h=4]OBJECTIVES:[/h] To study the associations between Influenza like illness (ILI) and socioeconomic status (SES), gender and wave during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic.
[h=4]METHODS:[/h] Availability of incidence data on the 1918-19 pandemic is scarce, in particular for waves other than the "fall wave" October-December 1918. Here, an overlooked survey from Bergen, Norway (n=10,633), is used to study differences in probabilities of ILI and ILI probability ratios by apartment size as a measure of SES and gender for three waves including the waves prior to and after the "fall wave".
[h=4]RESULTS:[/h] SES was negatively associated with ILI in the first wave, but positively associated in the second wave. At all SES levels, men had the highest ILI in the summer, while women had the highest ILI in the fall. There were no SES or gender differences in ILI in the winter of 1919.
[h=4]CONCLUSIONS:[/h] For the first time it is documented a crossover in the role of socioeconomic status in 1918 pandemic morbidity. The poor came down with influenza first, while the rich with less exposure in the first wave had the highest morbidity in the second wave. The study suggest that socioeconomically disadvantaged should be prioritized if vaccines are of limited availability in a future pandemic. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


[h=4]KEYWORDS:[/h] 1918-19 influenza pandemic; apartment size; cross-protection; gender; influenza-like illness; morbidity crossover; socioeconomic status

PMID: 29356350 DOI: 10.1111/irv.12541
Free full text
 
Back
Top