Medical and Demographic History: Inseparable?

Summary. The case is made for forms of medical history that focus explicitly on sickness, health and life chances; ones that explore the effects of health interventions by examining their impact on mor-tality risks. Using a series of examples drawn from environmental health, midwifery and obstetric care, the paper illustrates various ways in which long-term trends in health and mortality may be read together. But it also demonstrates how fraught with problems of description and interpretation this process is likely to be. Finally, a plea is made for evidence-based medical history where ‘progress’, ‘outcomes ’ and ‘results ’ are given privileged positions