Convulsions as a cause of infant death: New insights into its meaning based on evidence from four European cities (1800-1955).

IF 1.1 2区 哲学 Q4 HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES
Medical History Pub Date : 2025-06-02 DOI:10.1017/mdh.2025.7
Karin Wienholts, Mayra Murkens, Michail Raftakis, Michael Mühlichen
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In recent years, the digitisation of historical data containing cause-of-death information has significantly increased. However, these data show considerable variations in diagnostic practices and nosology over time and place. Examining vague historical causes of death, often denoting symptoms rather than specific diseases, is a particular challenge. Infantile convulsions are an example of a common yet problematic cause of death. To improve our understanding of infantile convulsions, we propose an innovative mixed-methods, comparative approach. This study combines qualitative analyses of historical medical thinking on infantile convulsions with quantitative analyses of individual-level death records from four European cities: Amsterdam, Hermoupolis, Maastricht, and Rostock, covering different periods between 1800 and 1955. Our findings reveal that infant deaths attributed to convulsions encompass a multitude of causes from different disease categories. Significant differences emerged in the patterns of convulsions across time, age groups, and locations, even within the same country. The decline in convulsions mortality seems to be more related to the introduction of uniform registration regulations and systems, and advancements in medical knowledge than to the decline in overall infant mortality. This study's outcome serves as a cautionary note that challenges the prevailing attitude towards convulsions and emphasises the complexity of interpreting deaths from convulsions. These were highly dependent on historical context, especially local medical culture and the variable accuracy of cause-of-death registration. These findings have implications for studies on infant mortality even when the main interest of such studies is not convulsions mortality.

痉挛作为婴儿死亡的原因:基于四个欧洲城市的证据对其意义的新见解(1800-1955)。
近年来,包含死因信息的历史数据的数字化程度显著提高。然而,这些数据显示,随着时间和地点的不同,诊断方法和分类学存在相当大的差异。检查模糊的历史死亡原因,通常是指症状而不是具体的疾病,是一个特别的挑战。婴儿惊厥是一种常见但有问题的死因。为了提高我们对婴儿抽搐的理解,我们提出了一种创新的混合方法,比较方法。本研究结合了对婴儿惊厥的历史医学思想的定性分析和对四个欧洲城市(阿姆斯特丹、赫莫波利斯、马斯特里赫特和罗斯托克)的个人死亡记录的定量分析,涵盖了1800年至1955年的不同时期。我们的研究结果表明,抽搐导致的婴儿死亡包括来自不同疾病类别的多种原因。在不同的时间、年龄组和地点,甚至在同一个国家,抽搐的模式也出现了显著的差异。惊厥死亡率的下降似乎更多地与统一登记条例和制度的引入以及医学知识的进步有关,而不是与总体婴儿死亡率的下降有关。这项研究的结果作为一个警示,挑战了对抽搐的普遍态度,并强调了解释抽搐死亡的复杂性。这些都高度依赖于历史背景,特别是当地的医疗文化和死因登记的可变准确性。这些发现对婴儿死亡率的研究具有启示意义,即使这些研究的主要兴趣不是惊厥死亡率。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Medical History
Medical History 医学-科学史与科学哲学
CiteScore
1.60
自引率
0.00%
发文量
25
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Medical History is a refereed journal devoted to all aspects of the history of medicine and health, with the goal of broadening and deepening the understanding of the field, in the widest sense, by historical studies of the highest quality. It is also the journal of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health. The membership of the Editorial Board, which includes senior members of the EAHMH, reflects the commitment to the finest international standards in refereeing of submitted papers and the reviewing of books. The journal publishes in English, but welcomes submissions from scholars for whom English is not a first language; language and copy-editing assistance will be provided wherever possible.
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