Mortality displacement

Mortality displacement denotes a temporal or temporary increase in the mortality rate (number of deaths) in a given population, usually attributable to environmental phenomena such as heat waves or cold spells.

During heat waves, for instance, there is usually an excess mortality rate in the population, affecting especially older adults and those who are sick. For some heat waves, however, there has also been observed a decrease in overall mortality during the subsequent weeks after a heat wave. Such short-term forward shift in mortality rate is also referred to as harvesting effect. The subsequent, compensatory reduction in mortality suggests that the heat wave had affected especially those whose health is already so compromised that they "would have died in the short term anyway".^[1]

Death marches can also lead to a significant mortality displacement, such as in the Trail of Tears, the Armenian Genocide, and the Bataan death march, wherein the oldest, weakest, and sickest died first.

References

↑ The Impact of Heat Waves and Cold Spells on Mortality Rates in the Dutch Population Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 109, Number 5, May 2001

Death and related topics

Outline

In medicine

Lists

Mortality

After death

Body	Algor mortis Beating heart cadaver Bed burial Body donation Burial Burial at sea Chariot burial Coffin birth Cremation Cryonics Death erection Decomposition Disposal Embalming Excarnation Fossilization Gibbeting Jar burial Livor mortis Maceration Mummification Natural burial Pallor mortis Plastination Post-mortem interval Promession Putrefaction Resomation Rigor mortis Ship burial Skeletonization Sky burial Space burial Taxidermy

Other aspects	Afterlife Cemetery Consciousness Customs Death mask Eternal oblivion Examination Funeral Grief Intermediate state Mourning Obituary Resurrection Taboo on the dead Vigil

Paranormal

Legal

Fields

Other

Category
Portal
WikiProject

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, September 16, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.