Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 55-56. (Budapest, 1970)

TANULMÁNYOK - Mádai Lajos: Semmelweis és a statisztikai tudomány (angol nyelvű közlemény)

Semmelweis provided another argument against the hypotheses claiming the existence of infectious influence in puerperal fever. In 1841—1846 the mortality among the infants in the two clinics was 7,6 and 3,8 per cent respectively. With his remarkable gift for observation his attention did not bypass those women who gave birth in the streets and were admitted to the hospital only afterwards. The number of such births was rather high, loo cases monthly on the average, which meant 15—18 per cent of all women in confinement in the hospital. Semmelweis's notes revealed a paradox situation, it showed that births which had taken place outside the hospital, among the worst possible conditions, were followed by cases of puerperal fever only on the rarest occasions, unlike those mothers for whom the more favourable conditions were ensured in the hospital. In 1848 a group of progressive-minded professors submitted several Table 4 Relation between the number of deliveries and mortality in the 1st maternity clinic, 1833—1858* Year Deliveries Mortality Decrease of Year number number percentage deliveries 1852 4471 181 4.04 1854 4393 400 9.10 78 1853 4221 94 2.12 250 1857 4220 124 2.96 251 1858 4203 86 2.04 268 1851 4194 75 1.78 277 184G 4010 459 11.44 461 1856 3925 156 3.97 546 1849 3858 103 2.66 613 1850 3745 74 1.97 726 1833 3737 197 5.29 734 1855 3659 198 5.41 812 1848 3556 45 1.27 915 1845 3492 241 6.90 979 1847 3490 176 5.04 981 1842 3287 518 15.75 1184 1844 3157 260 8.23 1314 1843 3060 274 S.95 1411 1841 3036 237 7.80 1435 1838 2987 91 3.04 1484 1840 2889 267 9.24 1582 1839 2781 151 5.42 1690 1837 2765 251 9.09 1706 1836 2677 200 7.47 1794 1834 2657 205 7.71 1814 1835 2573 143 5.55 1898 * Semmelweis l.c.p. 264. LII. Táblázat.