The 1918 Influenza Epidemic's Effects on Sex Differentials in Mortality in the United States

The 1918 influenza epidemic had a marked and fairly long-lasting effect on the sex differential in mortality in the United States. After 1918 women lost most of their mortality advantage over men and the female/male gap did not regain its pre-epidemic level until the 1930s. An analysis of causes of deaths shows a link with tuberculosis. We conjecture the existence of a selection effect, whereby many 1918 influenza deaths were among tuberculous persons, so that tuberculosis death rates dropped in later years, disproportionately among males. Age- and sex-specific data by cause of death corroborate this hypothesis. Copyright 2000 by The Population Council, Inc..