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Medical Hypotheses (2009)

Historical evidence that electrification caused the 20th century epidemic. Samuel Milham.

Viernes 25 de septiembre de 2009 · 1855 lecturas



Historical evidence that electrification caused the 20th century epidemic
of ‘‘diseases of civilization”

s u m m a r y
The slow spread of residential electrification in the US in the first half of the 20th century from urban to
rural areas resulted by 1940 in two large populations; urban populations, with nearly complete electrification
and rural populations exposed to varying levels of electrification depending on the progress of
electrification in their state. It took until 1956 for US farms to reach urban and rural non-farm electrification
levels. Both populations were covered by the US vital registration system. US vital statistics tabulations
and census records for 1920-1960, and historical US vital statistics documents were examined.
Residential electrification data was available in the US census of population for 1930, 1940 and 1950.
Crude urban and rural death rates were calculated, and death rates by state were correlated with electrification
rates by state for urban and rural areas for 1940 white resident deaths. Urban death rates were
much higher than rural rates for cardiovascular diseases, malignant diseases, diabetes and suicide in
1940. Rural death rates were significantly correlated with level of residential electric service by state
for most causes examined. I hypothesize that the 20th century epidemic of the so called diseases of civilization
including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes and suicide was caused by electrification
not by lifestyle. A large proportion of these diseases may therefore be preventable.
 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

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