
Disease of the respiratory system, and secondarily the circulatory system are identified as the main causes of excess winter mortality.

The most notable feature is the higher mortality in the 20th century which persists even when the growth of population is factored in.
Could it be the result of increased coal combustion as the nation became more wealthy? Is the drop following the pea-souper fogs or the early 1950s connected to coke, and then gas replacing coal? Statistics on domestic coal consumption, millions of metric tonnes, reflect the same trend.
Deaths in the years of high excess winter mortality 1951, 1929, and 1919 were dominated by influenza and pneumonia.
Three of my grandparents died in January or February. Were they victims of coal?
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