title: Death in Charleston, South Carolina. A retrospective.
abstract: Over the past 324 years, Charleston, South Carolina, has triumphed over rampant infectious disease only to be overcome by more modern plagues: heart disease, neoplasia, homicide, and suicide. Examination of death records of the state of South Carolina, Charleston City, and Charleston County provides us with a glimpse of the medical challenges of our recent past; it also reminds us of the scourges that still ravage underdeveloped countries. The 18th- and 19th-century South Carolinians were besieged by tuberculosis, diarrhea, and a myriad of fevers. These diseases, though prevalent in other parts of the world, result in limited mortality in the 20th-century United States. A review of the historic trends in mortality in Charleston is presented; current significant causes of death, with emphasis on recent trends in homicide, are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Cina
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Nichols
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D006708:Homicide / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D013405:Suicide / Q000639:trends