Age- and sex-differentials in morbidity at the start of an epidemiological transition: Returns from the 1880 U.S. Census

This paper uses a new data set, the Public Use file of the 1880 U.S. Census of the Population, to examine national point prevalence rates of adult morbidity over the early phase of the United States epidemiologic transition. These historical data report health status at the individual level and allow the analysis of age and sex differentials in morbidity. Point prevalence rates of morbidity by major cause show that males generally had higher rates of morbidity and long-term disability than females, especially at mid-life and in old age. But large sex differences in the distribution of conditions by major cause occurred over two portions of the life course: in early adulthood and in old age. Age and sex differences in the distribution of adult morbidity reflected the health status divide of the communicable and degenerative conditions.