The relation of cancer to life assurance : a paper read at the Life Assurance Medical Officers' Association, May 5th, 1897, with a discussion / by Joseph Frank Payne.

  • Payne, Joseph Frank, 1840-1910.
Date:
[1897]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The relation of cancer to life assurance : a paper read at the Life Assurance Medical Officers' Association, May 5th, 1897, with a discussion / by Joseph Frank Payne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It is interesting to compare these figures with the diminished rates of mortality from Phthisis, which, for some reason, diminishes somewhat more rapidly in females than in males. In 1895 the rates for Phthisis were Persons ... ... 1398 per million. Males . 1564 „ Females ... ... 1248 ,, So that the death-rate from Cancer in women is now f of that from Phthisis; and if the present rates of increase and decrease respectively continue, Cancer must before long become equal to Phthisis in importance as a cause of death in women. In 1881, the rate for Cancer was less than one-third of that for Phthisis in persons generally.* With regard to the a priori probability of an increase in Cancer, a remark by Dr. William Ogle deserves attention. Sup¬ posing Cancer, or the constitution predisposing to it, to be hereditary (on which Dr. Ogle forbears to express an opinion), and admitting, what is certain, that Cancer does not, as a rule, hinder fertility, and is not generally fatal till after the reproductive age ; then the number of persons having this hereditary predisposition must be increasing in the population, unless there is some other cause in operation which interferes with this law. No such opposing cause can be traced, so far as I know, beyond the iwell-known physiological law that all inherited departures from ithe normal tend to disappear, unless supported by some natural tor artificial selection. So that an increasing prevalence of Cancer peed not surprise us. It may also be remarked that there are other facts which make it probable a priori that the mortality from Cancer should be increasing. These are the greatly diminished mortality from Phthisis and ’rom acute infectious diseases. Since both these causes of death tct much earlier in life than Cancer, in proportion as they carry )ff a small number of persons at earlier ages, a larger number On this subject see W. Roger Williams on “Diseases of the Breast,” p. 279; British Medical Journal, December 30th, 1893, and following Numbers.