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This is a survey of the incidence during the present century of peptic ulcer, gastritis, various psychoneuroses, exophthalmic goiter, hypertensive cardiovascular disorders (a term including a variety of processes) and diabetes. There has been an upward trend—involving both sexes—in the incidence of anxiety states, goiter and diabetes. Peptic ulcer and hypertensive disorders have increased in males alone. 'In all affections the rate of increase [was] most marked in the younger age groups.' Those psychosomatic conditions formerly occurring preponderantly in females increased in males during the period studied, and conversely those conditions formerly preponderant in males have become increasingly more frequent in females. 'This finding suggests that the personality type of males was becoming more feminine and that of females more masculine.'
The diseases studied fall into two groups: those with a falling and those with a rising incidence. In the former group (hypochromic anemia, chorea, female peptic ulcer) 'environment in its physical aspect is … of high etiological relevance, whereas in the diseases that increased, it is environment in its psychological aspects that is known to be causally significant'.
The paper contains a wealth of highly interesting statistical data.