Mortality trends in Philadelphia: age- and cause- specific death rates 1870-1930.

This article examines the decline in mortality which occurred in Philadelphia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Age- and cause-specific mortality rates accounting for the decline are isolated and the relative importance of several variables in explaining the reduction of overall mortality levels is assessed. By using small areas within the city we are able to establish the impact of particular innovations on specific causes fo death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]