Any data concerning  coronary heart attacks in the nineteenth century.
Do we know what percentage the US (or elsewhere) population died from
this disease? Did physicians know the symptoms and describe it?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Nov 2005 07:21 PST

tofuie-ga,

I did a search of historical newspaper records for early appearances
of the term "heart attack".  The phrase pops up quite suddenly in the
1900's.  In fact the first NY Times obituary that I could find that
uses the term is from 1902.

It hardly appears at all in newspapers prior to 1900, suggesting that
it was not a recognized medical term in the 1800's, and that no data
on heart attacks in the 19th century is likely to be available.

Is there any other way we could approach this question in order to get
you some useful information?

Thanks,

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by tofuie-ga on 30 Nov 2005 11:42 PST

I know at times they address the cause as "angia pectoris" and
"cardiac thrombosis"  among others.
I would think, that in the age of pathology, there would be physicians
taking note of the symptoms and document. A massive coronary heart
attack can be obvious.
I would suspect life insurance agencies and medical books of the era
might provide insight.

If I recall my cardiology rotation correctly, blood clots in the
coronary arteries were linked to heart attacks in the early 1900s.
Prior to that, death from what was probably heart attack was described
as being caused by indigestion (heartburn), overeating, "stomach
stagnation", an imbalance of humours, vapors (and I thought the vapors
were a polite way of saying a woman had gas), and a hundred other
things.

I leave it to an Answerer to fully respond to your question.

I agree, the cause of death is generally what is in vogue at the time.

Historical statistics are extremely unreliable.

For example, I know of two fairly recent cases where the guys have had
a s*dding great cancer, and the autopsy cited 'liver failure'.

Here is a book that may be of interest: A Short History of Cardiology.
 You can read the first few pages.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9042000481/104-5651236-0424724?n=283155

And several similar can be found:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=br_ss_hs/104-5651236-0424724?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above%26dispatch%3Dsearch%26results-process%3Dbin&field-keywords=a+brief+history+of+cardiology&Go.x=7&Go.y=9&Go=Go

Apparently quite a lot was known about the heart by some specialists,
but maybe not by most GPs.

I realize Atkins was a controversial doctor, though I am sure happy
with my loss of 37 pounds so far and my greater strength on his diet.
At age 63, changing from 20 minutes of swinging a pick-axe at our home
in rural Puebla, Mexico, to three hours is wonderful. And, I am not
going to complain because my blood pressure has dropped from 130/74 to
106/67.  I also don't even care that my wife is complaining that I am
getting too thin. I am headed for my 1966 military discharge weight of
170 pounds, from a peak of 220.

It is a complex diet, and not everyone can eat a relatively repetitive
diet nor  swallow 25 to 30 supplement and fiber pills every day. I
tell people that my name is William Power, though I prefer to go by my
nickname, Will...

However, because it is complex, and because if you do not take your
supplements, you can mess yourself up badly, I do not recommnend what
has worked well for me.

In his book, Atkins said one type of heart attack, the infarction, is
linked to what he calls hyper insulinism, and simply did not exist
before refined sugar and soda based drinks hit the market, which was
around 1890.   Atkins says that President Eisenhower's personal doctor
stated that he never saw an infarction until in the 20's in graduate
school.

He developed the Atkins diet to prevent infarctions, not to lose
weight. And, he had complete records on over 60,000 patients,
including blood tests every two weeks.  Seems like those records
deserved at least a glance by the medical profession.

The late Dr. Atkins was not alone. Dr. Bass of Rosedale is an advocate
of similar claims.  YOu can find a lot of stuff on carbs by googling
for:

"traditional eskimo diet"

There were apparently other forms of heart attacks, though, which
makes sense, since today infarction is not the only form of heart
attack.

I am a somewhat cynical person, and I can believe that such things
were simply not correctly identified.  However, I can also believe
they came into existence only after we began to consume very large
amounts of carbs, since eliminating them has certainly made such a
great difference to me.

Irlandes, look up the definition of the word "infarct." If a heart
attack doesn't cause damage to the heart, it ain't a heart attack.