Family Studies of Respiratory Infections

Surveys of morbidity in countries with temperate climates have established the pre-eminent importance of acute respiratory infections as a cause of sickness at all ages. The more severe forms take a heavy toll of life among the very young and the elderly, and, particularly in infancy and early childhood, the mortality from bron- chitis and pneumonia has a strong association with social conditions. The Payling Wrights (1945), in their study of, aetiological factors in bronchopneumonia among children under 2 years of age in London, found a strong correlation between mortality and substandard housing, social index, and the percentage below the poverty line.