INFLUENZA MORTALITY AMONG WAGE EARNERS AND THEIR FAMILIES: A PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF RESULTS

Resumo

Whites rather than colored people were attacked by the pandemic of influenza and the young rather than the old, a reversal of usual conditions. These conclusions are based on the accurate figures obtainable from nearly 18,000,000 policies in force and 105,552 claims. The following is a brief statement of some of the basic findings of an investigation which has been made into the epidemic of influenza. It is limited to the policyholders of the Industrial Department of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and covers the period from October 1, 1918 to June 30, 1919. It should be noted in this connection that in this department there are represented over 12,000,000 policyholders, as of December 31, 1918; that these policyholders include both races, white and colored, males as well as females, and all age periods, excepting early infancy and extreme old age. This group of insured wage earners is well distributed over the entire United States and Canada. Effort was made, furthermore, to make the record of influenza deaths as complete as possible. In all, 105,552 policy claims were paid during the period under investigation, representing a total of 70,729 deaths from influenza-pneumonia.