[Population history, medical and health history: fifty years of shared experiences]. 1997

P Bourdelais
Directeur d'etudes a l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.

The history of epidemics and health has been completely revised in France as a result of studies done by the Annales School and on the basis of the results of historical demographic research of the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. The discovery of peaks in mortality in long-term death rates and the construction of a model for the mortality crisis of the Ancien regime have led to the study of past epidemics and their relation with malnutrition. Effects related with the development of historical anthropology and the publications of Michel Foucault have also had an influence. This article notes the important place of the history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in efforts to understand the marked decrease in mortality in developed countries, the disappearance of large epidemics, and the increase in endemics. Methods developed by population historians have made it possible to refine the analyses of this decrease despite variations in nosology. In addition, this article suggests especially promising avenues for future research.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008511 Medicine The art and science of studying, performing research on, preventing, diagnosing, and treating disease, as well as the maintenance of health. Insurance Medicine,Medical Specialities,Medical Specialties,Medical Specialty,Specialities, Medical,Specialties, Medical,Specialty, Medical,Insurance Medicines,Medical Speciality,Medicine, Insurance,Medicines, Insurance,Speciality, Medical
D011157 Population Dynamics The pattern of any process, or the interrelationship of phenomena, which affects growth or change within a population. Malthusianism,Neomalthusianism,Demographic Aging,Demographic Transition,Optimum Population,Population Decrease,Population Pressure,Population Replacement,Population Theory,Residential Mobility,Rural-Urban Migration,Stable Population,Stationary Population,Aging, Demographic,Decrease, Population,Decreases, Population,Demographic Transitions,Dynamics, Population,Migration, Rural-Urban,Migrations, Rural-Urban,Mobilities, Residential,Mobility, Residential,Optimum Populations,Population Decreases,Population Pressures,Population Replacements,Population Theories,Population, Optimum,Population, Stable,Population, Stationary,Populations, Optimum,Populations, Stable,Populations, Stationary,Pressure, Population,Pressures, Population,Replacement, Population,Replacements, Population,Residential Mobilities,Rural Urban Migration,Rural-Urban Migrations,Stable Populations,Stationary Populations,Theories, Population,Theory, Population,Transition, Demographic,Transitions, Demographic
D003710 Demography Statistical interpretation and description of a population with reference to distribution, composition, or structure. Demographer,Demographic,Demographic and Health Survey,Population Distribution,Accounting, Demographic,Analyses, Demographic,Analyses, Multiregional,Analysis, Period,Brass Technic,Brass Technique,Demographers,Demographic Accounting,Demographic Analysis,Demographic Factor,Demographic Factors,Demographic Impact,Demographic Impacts,Demographic Survey,Demographic Surveys,Demographic and Health Surveys,Demographics,Demography, Historical,Demography, Prehistoric,Factor, Demographic,Factors, Demographic,Family Reconstitution,Historical Demography,Impact, Demographic,Impacts, Demographic,Multiregional Analysis,Period Analysis,Population Spatial Distribution,Prehistoric Demography,Reverse Survival Method,Stable Population Method,Survey, Demographic,Surveys, Demographic,Analyses, Period,Analysis, Demographic,Analysis, Multiregional,Demographic Analyses,Demographies, Historical,Demographies, Prehistoric,Distribution, Population,Distribution, Population Spatial,Distributions, Population,Distributions, Population Spatial,Family Reconstitutions,Historical Demographies,Method, Reverse Survival,Method, Stable Population,Methods, Reverse Survival,Methods, Stable Population,Multiregional Analyses,Period Analyses,Population Distributions,Population Methods, Stable,Population Spatial Distributions,Prehistoric Demographies,Reconstitution, Family,Reconstitutions, Family,Reverse Survival Methods,Spatial Distribution, Population,Spatial Distributions, Population,Stable Population Methods,Technic, Brass,Technique, Brass
D005602 France A country in western Europe bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, and the countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the principalities of Andorra and Monaco, and by the duchy of Luxembourg. Its capital is Paris. Corsica,Saint Pierre and Miquelon,Miquelon and Saint Pierre,Miquelon and St. Pierre,St. Pierre and Miquelon
D006304 Health Status The level of health of the individual, group, or population as subjectively assessed by the individual or by more objective measures. General Health,General Health Level,General Health Status,Level of Health,Overall Health,Overall Health Status,General Health Levels,Health Level,Health Level, General,Health Levels,Health Status, General,Health Status, Overall,Health, General,Health, Overall,Level, General Health,Levels, General Health,Status, General Health,Status, Health,Status, Overall Health
D006663 Historiography The writing of history; the principles, theory, and history of historical writing; the product of historical writing. (Webster, 3d ed) Historiographies
D014798 Vital Statistics Used for general articles concerning statistics of births, deaths, marriages, etc. Registration of Vital Statistics,Registration, Vital Statistics,Statistics, Vital,Vital Statistics Registration,Registrations, Vital Statistics,Vital Statistics Registrations
D015981 Epidemiologic Factors Events, characteristics, or other definable entities that have the potential to bring about a change in a health condition or other defined outcome. Epidemiologic Determinants,Determinant, Epidemiologic,Determinants, Epidemiologic,Epidemiologic Determinant,Epidemiologic Factor,Factor, Epidemiologic,Factors, Epidemiologic
D049711 History, Modern 1601- The period of history from 1601 of the common era to the present. History, Modern,Modern History,History of Medicine, Modern,Medicine, Modern,Modern History (Medicine),Modern Medicine,1601- History, Modern,History, Modern (Medicine),History, Modern 1601,Modern 1601- History
D019353 Endemic Diseases The constant presence of diseases or infectious agents within a given geographic area or population group. It may also refer to the usual prevalence of a given disease with such area or group. It includes holoendemic and hyperendemic diseases. A holoendemic disease is one for which a high prevalent level of infection begins early in life and affects most of the child population, leading to a state of equilibrium such that the adult population shows evidence of the disease much less commonly than do children (malaria in many communities is a holoendemic disease). A hyperendemic disease is one that is constantly present at a high incidence and/or prevalence rate and affects all groups equally. (Last, A Dictionary of Epidemiology, 3d ed, p53, 78, 80) Disease, Endemic,Diseases, Endemic,Endemic Disease

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