Multiple sclerosis from the standpoint of geographic distribution and race
Davenport CB
Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases (ARNMD) vol 2. New York: Herber, 1921: 8–19.
Suggested By George Ebers
This was the first systematic study showing that the geography of MS had unexplained irregularity. Davenport became somewhat controversial later because of his interests and studies in eugenics (a scientific zeitgeist among his contemporaries in educated circles). He studied the occurrence of MS in U.S. World War I veterans and showed the high prevalence around the Great Lakes, something that was attributed to the Scandinavian origins of much of this population at the time. This continues to the present to a degree, c.f. the Swedes of Minnesota and the Finns around the northern lakeshores, e.g., Thunder Bay. Later, the migration of Norwegians to the U.S. Northwest, making up some 50% of the migrants in the mid-19th century, would show up in the geography of veterans with MS. The highest U.S. rates by state continue to be in Washington state. The U.S. VA records proved grist for John Kurtzke’s mill and his industry and determination was to be most productive, but the use of the veteran’s databases began here and with Beebe (Beebe et al., 1967).
Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases (ARNMD) vol 2. New York: Herber, 1921: 8–19.
Suggested By George Ebers
This was the first systematic study showing that the geography of MS had unexplained irregularity. Davenport became somewhat controversial later because of his interests and studies in eugenics (a scientific zeitgeist among his contemporaries in educated circles). He studied the occurrence of MS in U.S. World War I veterans and showed the high prevalence around the Great Lakes, something that was attributed to the Scandinavian origins of much of this population at the time. This continues to the present to a degree, c.f. the Swedes of Minnesota and the Finns around the northern lakeshores, e.g., Thunder Bay. Later, the migration of Norwegians to the U.S. Northwest, making up some 50% of the migrants in the mid-19th century, would show up in the geography of veterans with MS. The highest U.S. rates by state continue to be in Washington state. The U.S. VA records proved grist for John Kurtzke’s mill and his industry and determination was to be most productive, but the use of the veteran’s databases began here and with Beebe (Beebe et al., 1967).