The causes of death among the assured in the Scottish Widow's Fund and Life Assurance Society from 1874 to 1894 inclusive / [Claud Muirhead].

  • Muirhead, Claud.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The causes of death among the assured in the Scottish Widow's Fund and Life Assurance Society from 1874 to 1894 inclusive / [Claud Muirhead]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    53/120 (page 41)
    I have taken the ollicial figures for the two decennial periods 1 871-80 and 1881-90 from the Supplementary Report already referred to, because tl)ey are readily accessible, and near enough in j)oint ot time to our first two Septennial periods to allow of a fairly accurate comparison. As indicated in tlie above Table, our death-iate for (.’onsumption during tlie last twenty-one years was greatly below tluit of England during the ten yeai’s 1881-90 as recorded by the Kegistrar-General. 'I'liey thus compare ;— Annual ^Mortality from Consumi’Tion in England and tlui Scottish Widows’ Fund among 10,000 (Males) living at each (irou]) of Ages. Gnoura ok Aokh. i Enolasm I ■ !;(:OTTlBli Widowm ; 1874-04. Between xVges 20 & 25 . . ^ 2 3’33 lO*:!.--. 25 & 35 . . ^ 30'34 14 *.30 ») 35 & 45 . . 3 5 *02 1 6*21) ♦» )» 45 & 55 . 34*88 11*31 > > »» 55 & G5 . 29*10 11*07 65 & 75 . 18*10 11*53 Af'es 7f) ami over . 6*88 5 *.50 The enormous disproportion between these rates in favour of the Office is undoubtedly due to the benefits of selection — to the thorough medical examination which each candidate for assurance has to undergo, to the minuteness with which all his antecedents are investigated and intelligently adjudicated upon by the Society’s officials, and the discriminating care with which the Directors impartially weigh the merits and demerits of each case before admitting the Proposer to the benefits of the Society. Let us now examine a little more closely the age at which our members died from Consumption. We have already seen that there is a marked advance in the average age at death in each Septennium, and the following Table confirms what lias already been indicated, viz., that this increase was due to a general increment to the age at death, and not to the falling in of lives at advanced ages :— Table showing the I’ercentages at Groups of Ages of the Total Number of Deaths from Consumrtion in each Septennium. Septennium. A^ie.s uniler •25. Between Akch 25 ti 35. Between Aue» 85 k 45. Between A«eH 45 A 65. Between Ages 56 A 05. Between Ages 05 A 75. Ages 75 and over. 1874-80 3*21 27*71 39*30 13*00 9*24 6*02 *80 1881-87 3*27 25*40 37*45 19*63 1 0*54 2D2 *73 1888-94 2*13 18*44 34*75 24*40 13*12 6*30 *71 V'ariatiom in inci- dence of Mortality for 1871^—80 and fm- 1888-0J,. - P08 - 0-V - J^-61 + lOso + S'SS + -.77 — *oy It will be observed from this table that, as contrasted with the first Septennium, the percentage of deaths during the third Septennium increased