Dying Devotion: Discerning the Association Between Differential Mortality from Scarlet Fever and Religious Affiliation Among Early Edmontonians (1893-1894)

Abstract

Regarding the relationship between religious affiliation and patterns of differential mortality, many hold that any proxy for religion is hopelessly confounded, but that religiosity nevertheless certainly functions to benefit the health of the devout. Edmonton's scarlet fever epidemic (1893-1894) provides a counterexample to prevailing notions, in that religious affiliation is revealed as a risk-factor for this specific threat to health. Roman Catholic children were found to be at a significantly greater risk of dying from scarlet fever than were their counterparts from all other denominations combined, which is demonstrated as a direct corollary of religious affiliation. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.