Relation of nutrition to health in aging persons; a four-year follow-up of a study in San Mateo County.

A follow-up study of 577 San Mateo County residents over 50 years of age who were originally studied in 1948 was carried out. Three hundred fifty still were available for reevaluation. Mortality studies showed a higher death rate in males than in females, in persons of the lower economic levels, and in those with systolic blood pressure of more than 180 mm. of mercury. Correlations between factors studied and morbidity were not conclusive, but suggested relationships between low economic status and digestive system disease; low hemoglobin and high incidence of respiratory disease; high caloric intake and digestive system disease; low thiamine intake and nervous system disease; low ascorbic acid intake and diseases of the circulatory and digestive systems.