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Nineteenth century mortality at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow
1Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, UK.
Insights
In the 1890s, infection, especially respiratory infections, was the leading cause of death for children at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Patient demographics and length of stay showed similarities to current trends.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric History
- Medical Archival Research
- 19th Century Public Health
Background:
- Examines child health outcomes and hospital mortality at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children during the late 19th century.
- Investigates pediatric mortality trends in a major industrial city during the 1890s.
Observation:
- Analyzed 731 hospital deaths recorded between 1890 and 1899 from hospital and pathology archives.
- Identified infection, particularly respiratory tract infections, as the primary cause of death.
- Compared patient demographics, including age at death, sex ratio, and travel distance, with contemporary hospital data.
Findings:
- Infection was the predominant cause of mortality, with respiratory infections being most common.
- Age distribution of deaths and the ratio of boys to girls admitted were comparable to modern pediatric hospital statistics.
- Patient travel distance to the hospital was also a recorded factor in mortality analysis.
Implications:
- Provides a historical perspective on pediatric mortality in the 19th century, highlighting the impact of infectious diseases.
- Offers insights into the evolution of child healthcare and public health in urban environments.
- Establishes a baseline for understanding long-term changes in pediatric patient populations and outcomes.
Background And Aims:
Since Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children opened in 1882, significant advances have been made in child health. Our aim was to investigate the hospital mortality that occurred in the last decade of the 19th century at Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Methods And Results:
Hospital mortality records for the decades, 1890-1899, were collected from the Archives of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Data were extracted from the hospital inpatient records and the pathology records. In the decade 1890-1899, there were 731 hospital deaths. The main cause of death at that time in the 19th Century was infection, particularly of the respiratory tract. The age at which death occurred was analysed and the recorded cause were analysed as was the distance patients travelled to the hospital. The ratio of boys to girls and length of inpatient stay was similar to that seen in the hospital currently.
Conclusion:
This study records the mortality in a children's hospital in a large developing industrial city in the 19th century as experienced in a children's hospital.
