Mortality and morbidity from infectious and non-communicable diseases in Greece during Axis/Nazi military occupation (1941-1944)

Abstract

Greece has been severely damaged by the Second World War and the subsequent military occupation of the country by the Axis forces headed by Nazi Germa-ny. The Greek society and economy were dislocated as a result of plundering of the country’s vital resources, as well as enforced payments, instead paid to the oc-cupying forces. The dramatic food shortages and famine appeared plaguing especially large cities. There is very limited information on the trends of mortality and morbidity (1941-1944) at a national level. The morbidity and mortality statistics of the General Statisti-cal Service of Greece were assessed and the incidence morbidity and mortality rates have been calculated. As denominator population we used the population of Greece according to 1940 census. The morbidity due to exanthematic typhus, typhoid fever, dysentery and meningitis has been elevated over the period 1940-1944. An elevated specific mortality due to tubercu-losis, malaria and typhoid fever was observed over the period 1940-1941. Regarding non-communicable diseases, the mortality due to hemorrhagic stroke was increased after 1940. In conclusion, we found that the Axis/Nazi military occupation of Greece had consid-erable health effects on infectious diseases and hem-orrhagic stroke mortality. Deaths ostensibly due to infectious diseases (e.g. tuberculosis or malaria), were expedited by the hunger famine of the period under investigation. With regard to the elevated mortality due to hemorrhagic stroke, we believe that the stress-ful events of occupation and famine have triggered increased psychosocial stress which in turn may have increased the risk of hemorrhagic stroke mortality during the period of Axis/Nazi occupation of Greece. © 2022, EDIMES Edizioni Medico Scientifiche. All rights reserved.