Nineteenth century mortality at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Since Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children opened in 1882, significant advances have been made in child health. Our aim was to investigate the hospital mortality that occurred in the last decade of the 19th century at Royal Hospital for Sick Children.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Hospital mortality records for the decades, 1890-1899, were collected from the Archives of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Data were extracted from the hospital inpatient records and the pathology records. In the decade 1890-1899, there were 731 hospital deaths. The main cause of death at that time in the 19th Century was infection, particularly of the respiratory tract. The age at which death occurred was analysed and the recorded cause were analysed as was the distance patients travelled to the hospital. The ratio of boys to girls and length of inpatient stay was similar to that seen in the hospital currently.


CONCLUSION
This study records the mortality in a children's hospital in a large developing industrial city in the 19th century as experienced in a children's hospital.
['Cullis|P S|PS|', 'Young|D G|DG|']
D017677:Age Distribution D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D003428:Cross Infection D005260:Female D006297:Health Services Accessibility D049672:History, 19th Century D017052:Hospital Mortality D006760:Hospitalization D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007226:Infant Mortality D007902:Length of Stay D008297:Male D044342:Malnutrition D011203:Poverty D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections D012606:Scotland D014186:Transportation D014947:Wounds and Injuries
Paediatric child mortality disease patterns history infant mortality