Apoplexy among Qajar Statesmen and their Families (1298-1313 A.H/ 1880-1896): Causes and Contexts

Case studies require some detailed data and statistics that are very rare before the last century in the history of medicine. However, from the mid Qajar dynasty onward some works include detailed reports about health affairs of society. Such writings are generally Qajar statesmen memories or autobiographies. The ongoing research, based on the aforementioned sources, excavates Apoplexy casualties among statesmen during the final fifteen years of Naser al-Din Shah’s rulership (R. 1264-1313/ 1848-1896) and by focusing on patients’ diet, daily exercises and hereditary characteristics, it tries to make clear the reason for the spread of apoplexy during those years in comparison to thirty years ago.

The research data is based on library studies and has been prepared through Qajar diaries and travelogues. The research method is descriptive-analytical.

Ethical Considerations: 

Truthfulness and fidelity have been observed in reporting and references.

Our findings show, death toll rise by apoplexy among the said social class was due to meat diet and unbalanced economic-social development.

This study shows how diet and aging of the Statesmen, combined with and unbalanced economic-social development in the late Naser al-Din Shah’s period, has increased the rate of stroke among the royal members and statesmen or their families. During this period, while the transportation system changed, the health centers have offered no solution to people to care about their health amid such transformation.