January 20, 2010
What difference does 100 years make?
Journal of the American Medical Association has a feature "JAMA 100 Years Ago", which reprints articles transcribed verbatim from articles published 100 years ago. The January 20, 2010 issue has an article titled Preventable Waste of Life, originally published January 22, 1910. It is a very interesting article, in that it discusses a pamphlet issued by the Provident Savings Life Assurance Society of New York titled "The State and the Death-Roll", authored by Mr. E.E. Rittenhouse, who was president of that society. The pamphlet talks about the reduction of infectious disease that was seen in that time period along with the increase in "non-communicable diseases due primarily to personal habits, overwork, etc."
How far have we come in 100 years? Here are some quotes from the article to ponder:
Mr. Rittenhouse concludes that this abnormal increase in the death-rate from non-communicable disease is due to the early wearing out of vital organs due to excesses in eating, drinking, working and playing - in short, intemperate living and the strenuous life.
We try to protect a man from a disease which another might give him, but, without the slightest help, permit him to die of a disease which he may unknowingly give himself.
We as a nation have come a long way in working to educate people on diet, exercise and smoking and the ramifications of those choices in lifestyle. There continues to be considerable debate about access and insurance issues, for which there are varied opinions on what "is or isn't" working for our nation. Consider these 100-year-old recommendations:
As a remedy for existing conditions, Mr. Rittenhouse urges that the state inaugurate a systematic and permanent campaign of education for the prevention of diseases of all kinds by the distribution of health bulletins, the liberal use of health and medical inspectors and by other methods. He also suggests that the state provide free medical examinations, periodically, for any who may desire them, for the purpose of detecting disease in time to check and cure it. This plan, he says, would enlarge the work of the health departments and would require an increased staff of inspectors and medical examiners, but this would be well within the bounds of reason and would be amply justified by the results.
The article points out that Mr. Rittenhouse's pamphlet is evidence of the "rapid growth" of public opinion on disease prevention and that business and commercial interests only need to realize that this "waste of life" is a loss of their interests as well.
To read the article on the JAMA website, click here.