Differential tuberculosis deaths among a late nineteenth and early twentieth century New York City population: an analysis of death certificate data.

This paper explores population substructure through an analysis of 8,691 individual death certificates representing a native-born New York City (NYC) population and a European Immigrant population who died from tubercular infection in Manhattan, NYC, 1890-1930. From the death certificate data, four classes of tubercular infection were derived: pulmonary, chronic pulmonary, acute/miliary tuberculosis, and tubercular meningitis. The United Nations classification system was used to categorize the European regions of birth listed on the death certificates resulting in four international regions of birth (Western, Northern, Eastern, and Southern Europe) and NYC. Using these data, the correlation between region of birth, age, sex, and the type of tubercular infection causing death was examined. Through a chi-square analysis, the data demonstrated that region of birth influenced the type of tuberculosis (TB) from which an individual died. An ANOVA test determined there was a significant relationship between mean age and type of tubercular infection, sex, and region of birth. The results of this analysis lead to the conclusion that: (1) historical vital records, specifically death certificate data, are useful when exploring tuberculosis variability among historical populations; and (2) these data may provide useful information when designing and implementing current policy to control and prevent TB.