Differentials In Adult Mortality Research Articles

A comprehensive analysis of the mortality experience of hispanic subgroups in the United States: Variation by age, country of origin, and nativity

Although those identifying as “Hispanic or Latino” experience lower adult mortality than the more socioeconomically advantaged non-Hispanic white population, the ethnic category Hispanic conceals variation by country of origin, nativity, age, and immigration experience. The current analysis examines adult mortality differentials among 12 Hispanic subgroups by region of origin and nativity, and non-Hispanic whites, adjusting for socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. We use the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files pooled 1990–2009 to obtain sufficient sample of each subgroup to calculate mortality estimates by sex and age group (25–64, 65+). Among adults aged 65 and over, all foreign born subgroups have an advantage over non-Hispanic whites, and many USB subgroups exhibit an advantage in the adjusted model. Foreign-born Dominicans, Central/South Americans, and other Hispanics exhibit consistent advantages across models for both men and women, aged 25–64 and 65 and over, and both unadjusted and adjusted for socioeconomic covariates. Both US-born and foreign-born Mexicans between ages 25 and 64 have mortality disadvantaged relative to non-Hispanic whites, while older Mexicans exhibit clear advantages. Our results complicate the traditional formulation of the Hispanic Paradox and cast doubt on the singularity of the mortality experience of those of Hispanic origin.

Educational differentials in adult mortality in low- and middle-income countries

Résumé
 Dans les pays à haut revenu, il a été amplement démontré que la mortalité des adultes est plus faible au sein des catégories professionnelles favorisées ainsi que chez les personnes bénéficiant d’un niveau d’instruction élevé ou d’un revenu confortable. Dans les pays à revenu faible ou intermédiaire, les différentiels de mortalité aux âges adultes sont par contre nettement moins bien étudiés en raison du manque d'information sur les caractéristiques socio-économiques des personnes décédées. Cet article vise à évaluer si les informations fournies dans des enquêtes sur la survie des sœurs peuvent aider à combler cette lacune. Puisque les niveaux d’instruction sont très corrélés au sein des familles, les niveaux atteints par les fem­mes enquêtées peuvent servir à approximer le niveau d’instruction de leurs sœurs. Afin de quantifier les différences de mortalité, nous combinons toutes les Enquêtes Démographiques et de Santé dans un même modèle linéaire généralisé à effets mixtes. Dans la plupart des enquêtes, nous observons une relation inverse entre le niveau d’instruction et la mortalité adulte, en particulier dans les zones urbaines, mais des gradients opposés sont observés dans plusieurs pays durement frappés par l’épidémie du VIH/sida. L’hypothèse selon laquelle les femmes moins instruites auraient tendance à omettre disproportionnellement certains décès de leurs sœurs n’est pas vérifiée dans les données. Les données sur la survie des soeurs semblent plutôt bien refléter la complexité de la relation entre mortalité et éducation des adultes, en particulier dans les pays touchés par l’épidémie du SIDA. Dans l’ensem­ble, le recours à ces données ouvre de nouvelles voies pour mesurer les inégalités de mortalité aux âges adultes dans les pays à revenu faible ou intermédiaire.
 Abstract
 In high-income countries, there is extensive evidence showing that higher levels of educational attainment, higher income and higher occupational classes are correlated with lower mortality rates among adults. In low- and middle-income countries, far less is known on mortality differentials in this age group due to the lack of information on the socio-economic characteristics of the deceased. In this paper, we evaluate whether survey reports on the survival of sisters can help to fill this gap. We find that levels of educational attainment are correlated within families, and therefore characteristics of the deceased can be inferred from levels attained by their sisters responding to the survey. Because estimates based on sibling survival histories have large confidence intervals, we pool all Demographic and Health Surveys together and apply a generalized linear mixed-effects model to capture mortality differentials. In most surveys, higher education is indeed associated with lower risks of dying, especially in urban areas, but reverse gradients are observed in several countries experiencing generalized HIV epidemics. There is limited support for the hypothesis that women with less education are disproportionately omitting to report some deaths. Instead, we argue that sibling histories truly reflect the complexity of the relationship between adult mortality and education, especially in countries affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Overall, the sibling approach offers new avenues for measuring inequalities in adult mortality in low- and middle-income countries.

Educational attainment and adult mortality differentials in Argentina

In Latin America, there is an important set of studies that show a significant inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and mortality rates, but we know very little about the specific relation between educational attainment and adult mortality. The objective of this paper is to describe the relationship of adult mortality to educational attainment in Argentina for 2010. The data used in this study come from the Argentinean Mortality File of 2010 and from the last Argentinean Census. Results show a clear gradient in the specific mortality rates according to educational groups, for both sexes and for all age groups. The existence and direction of this relationship were as expected; however, the magnitude of educational differences was much higher than what has been found in other countries. The data also exhibited a clear declining trend in mortality inequalities by education as age increased

Gender differences in education effects on all-cause mortality for white and black adults in the United States.

The existence of education differentials in adult mortality has been well established. The issue of gender differences in the education-mortality association, however, remains an open question, despite its importance for understanding of causal pathways through which education affects health outcomes. The goal of this paper is to analyze gender differences in education gradients in mortality among non-Hispanic white and black U.S. adults born between 1906 and 1965. The analysis is based on data from the 1986-2000 National Health Interview Surveys linked to the National Death Index through 2002 (NHIS-LMF) with over 700,000 respondents. Full-sample and cohort-stratified Cox proportional hazard models of all-cause mortality were estimated. Results indicate a great deal of similarity between men and women in the education-mortality association, with some exceptions. The most notable difference is the steeper educational gradient at high schooling levels for white men compared to white women. This difference was fully explained by marital status. No systematic gender differences in the relationship between education and adult mortality were observed among black adults in any birth cohorts. The findings suggest that men do not benefit from educational attainment uniformly more than women.

Differentials in Adult Mortality and Activity Limitation by Years of Education in the United States at the End of the 1990s

This study examines mortality differentials and health disparities between educational groups within the 1998 adult population (ages 25 and older) in the United States. Mortality differentials are measured using average life expectancy and health disparities by expected years without activity limitation. The results indicate that for both sexes, higher education is associated with higher life expectancy. Those with higher levels of education also have higher life expectancy without activity limitation. Adults with higher education can also expect to enjoy a greater percentage of their expected lives free of any form of activity limitation. At each level of education, adult females have a higher level of activity limitation compared to adult males. At the same level of education, adult females expect to enjoy smaller percentages of their remaining lives free of activity limitation compared to adult males of the same age.

Individual and Contextual Risks of Death among Race and Ethnic Groups in the United States

An emerging area of social science research focuses on individual-level and contextual-level determinants of black-white adult mortality differentials in the United States. However, no research on adult mortality differentials has distinguished multiple Hispanic subgroups and explored the role of nativity at both the individual and contextual levels for small geographic areas. Using the 1986-1997 National Health Interview Survey-National Death Index linked file, we examine the effects of individual and contextual factors on black-white and multiple Hispanic subgroups (Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and "other" Hispanic) differentials in adult mortality. In addition, we use a new, innovative geographic area--the very small area--as our contextual unit of analysis. We find that excess mortality risks for all race-ethnic groups considered are associated with not only individual characteristics, but also neighborhood characteristics. In addition, percent foreign born in a neighborhood is protective of Hispanic subgroup mortality for Puerto Rican, Mexican American, and "other" Hispanic adults in the 45-64 age category. These findings indicate a need for future research to examine more throughly the pathways through which neighborhood factors affect multiple Hispanic subgroup mortality and the role of nativity as a protective factor for older adult Hispanic mortality.

Living and Dying in the USA: Behavioral, Health, and Social Differentials of Adult Mortality

The simplicity of using one data set in addressing the relationship of single variables to mortality distinguishes Living and Dying in the USA from other recent investigations of mortality. The authors use the recently released National Health Interview Survey and the National Death Index to make a definitive statement about demographics and mortality. By surveying demographic and sociocultural characteristics associated with mortality, socioeconomic effects, health-related conditions, and health status, they reveal connections among several factors related to mortality chances. Easily understood and cited, their study emphasizes the statistical methods underlying their revelations and invites readers to duplicate their results.Key Features* Comprehensive coverage of US adult mortality differentials* Based on a new and innovative data set* Includes factors rarely examined in related mortality research * Not only documents mortality differentials, but explores explanations for them* Extensive list of references associated with each chapter * Consistent, straightforward methodology used throughout aids readers in both understanding the content and in comparing results from chapter to chapterAuthor: Rogers, Richard G. Author: Hummer, Robert A. Author: Nam, Charles B. Publisher: Academic Press Illustration: N Language: ENG Title: Living and Dying in the USA: Behavioral, Health, and Social Differentials of Adult Mortality Pages: 00000 (Encrypted PDF) On Sale: 1999-09-01 SKU-13/ISBN: 9780125931304 Category: Social Science : Demography Category: Social Science : Sociology General Category: Social Science : Human Geography

Sociodemographic Differentials in Adult Mortality: A Review of Analytic Approaches

Following a discussion of the conventional approaches used to analyze differentials in adult mortality the authors pose a series of questions aimed at encouraging research on differential mortally along new causally pertinent directions. These include the modeling of differential mortality in a proximate determinants perspective the incorporation of time into differential mortality models the inclusion of more refined outcome measures and the use of a macro-level perspective to better understand mortality differentials. Examples of recent [U.S.] studies expanding in these directions are briefly described. This paper was originally presented at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. (EXCERPT) (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

Adult mortality differentials associated with cigarette smoking in the USA

Although cigarette smoking has been extensively researched, surprising little knowledge has been produced by demographers using demographic perspectives and techniques. Thus, this paper contributes to the literature by extending a demographic framework to an important behavior for mortality research: cigarette smoking. In earlier works, the authors used nationally-representative data to show that cause of death patterns varied by smoking status and that multiple causes of death characterized smokers moreso than non-smokers. The present work extends previous analysis by estimating smoking status mortality differentials by underlying and multiple causes of death and by age and sex. Data from the 1986 National Mortality Followback Survey are related to data from the 1985 and 1987 National Health Interview Survey supplements to assess the smoking-related mortality differentials. We find that cigarette smoking is associated with higher mortality for all population categories studied, that the smoking mortality differentials vary across the different smoking status categories and by demographic group, and that the mortality differentials vary according to whether underlying cause or multiple cause patterns of death are examined. Moreover, the multiple cause analysis highlights otherwise obscured smoking-mortality relations and points to the importance of respiratory diseases and cancers other than lung cancer for cigarette smoking research.

Educational differentials in mortality: United States, 1979–1985

The paper examines educational differentials in adult mortality in the United States within a multivariate framework using data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Survey (NLMS). As a preliminary step we compare the magnitude of educational mortality differentials in the United States to those documented in Europe. At ages 35–54, the proportionate reductions in mortality for each one year increase in schooling are similar in the United States to those documented in Europe. The analyses further reveal significant educational differentials in U.S. mortality among both men and women in the early 1980s. Differentials are larger for men and for working ages than for women and persons age 65 and above. These differentials persist but are reduced in magnitude when controls for income, marital status and current place of residence are introduced.

Are educational differentials in adult mortality increasing in the United States?

Two recent studies have compared the size of educational mortality differentials among adults in the 1980s to estimates for 1960. Both studies have concluded that educational differentials have increased for males. One study finds a similar increase for females. We reconsider this question by introducing a data source that is better suited to estimating recent differentials than either of the two that have been employed. We also evaluate the quality of the 1960 baseline estimates and introduce broader measures of inequality. We conclude that educational inequalities have widened for males but contracted for working-age females. For both sexes, inequality trends are more adverse for persons aged 65+ than for persons aged 25-64. The role of national health insurance in shaping these trends is briefly considered.

Women's Position and Demographic Change

Part 1 Women's position as a cause of demographic change: the impact of women's position on demographic change during the course of development - what do we know?, Karen Oppenhem Mason reproductive behaviour - patriarchal structure and demographic change, urban women's autonomy and natural fertility in the Sahel region of Africa, changing family ties, women's position and low fertility, the status of women and the position of children - competition or complementarity? mortality and morbidity - women's position and child mortality and morbidity in less-developed countries, sex differentials in adult mortality in less-developed countries - the evidence and its explanation, the condition of women and the health and mortality of infants and children, social change and mortality decline - women's advantage achieved or regained?, sex inequalities in morbidity and mortality migration - effects of women's position on their migration, Lin Lean Lim. Part 2 Women's position as an outcome of demographic change: historical features of women's position in society, Solvi Sogner the effects of fertility, family organization, sex structure of the labour market and technology on the position of women, Helen Ware birds in a cage - institutional change and women's position in Bangladesh, Shapan Adnan labour migration and female-headed households, Pauline Makinwa-Adebusoye some critical issues - occupational and conjugal inequalities and insecurity - effects on family organization and size, Christine Oppong.

Estimation of adult mortality in Korea: levels, trends, and socioeconomic differentials.

SummaryData from the 1974 Korean National Fertility Survey indicate levels, trends, and socioeconomic differentials in adult mortality in the Republic of Korea. The indirect techniques of parental survival and the time location of mortality are used to estimate mortality levels and to discern time trends in adult mortality. Socioeconomic variables are considered for their relationship with levels of adult mortality. The index of household wealth (based on the ownership of modern goods, size and space of household) and education stand out as the most important differentials in adult mortality. The trend in mortality decline is most pronounced for the subgroups representing higher levels of educational attainment and greater ownership of modern goods even after adjusting for the interrelationship between these two variables.