CORRELATION OF DEATH RATES FROM CERTAIN 
DISEASES WITH CERTAIN ECONOMIC AND 
HOUSING FACTORS IN THE PHILIPPINE 
ISLANDS 1 
By RUFINO ABRIOL 
ONE TEXT FIGURE 
INTRODUCTION 
In the work of a health officer there constantly arises a multi- 
plicity of problems which cannot possibly be correctly solved 
without the application of modern statistical methods. Essen- 
tial among these methods is correlation. ‘By the use of this 
technique, the most complicated problems, which could be at- 
tacked in no other way, may be solved.”(7) While other statis- 
tical methods are being applied to public-health problems with 
considerable frequency, it can reasonably be said that this is 
not generally done with the method of correlation. In the solu- 
tion of biological, anthropological, meteorological, social, and 
economic problems the theory has found application, but in the 
domain of vital statistics little use has been made of it. 
It is gratifying to realize that in its meager use in vital statis- 
tics it has thrown light on numerous fundamental as well as 
surprising interrelationships between various phenomena; for 
example, compare Pearl’s work on the epidemiology of in- 
fluenza. (6, 8) 
In considering the general health conditions of a community, 
such as the prevalence of disease, malnutrition, infant mortality, 
general morbidity, etc., it is generally assumed that there must 
be a certain relation between these and the housing conditions 
or economic factors. It is possible that scientific analysis would 
show that these accepted relations are not so intimate as is 
generally believed. Also, there is the possibility that the simi- 
larity of conditions might not hold universally. As the material 
herein finds its source in the Philippine Islands, it should be 
* Papers from the department of biometry and vital statistics, School of 
Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, No. 49. 
305 
