TRENDS OF TUBERCULOSIS MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY

Abstract

Within the past fifty years there has been a marked change in the pattern of tuberculosis mortality, and the peak of mortality has shifted from the younger to the older age groups. During the same period there has also been a similar change in morbidity. This marked similarity in the rates of change of morbidity and mortality is interpreted as evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship, i.e., even before the advent of chemotherapy there were fewer deaths from tuberculosis because there were fewer cases. Most of the improvement is due to environmental factors, but the effects of environment are modified by age -specific factors in early childhood and in young women. The data presented indicate that, under similar conditions of environment and exposure, the disease tends to attack all ages equally.