title: The dynamics of aging and mortality in the United States, 1900-1988.
abstract: The Strehler-Mildvan modification of the Gompertz relationship between aging and mortality provides a dynamic theoretical model for identifying and separating genetic, environmental and competitive influences upon age-related mortality. The initial method of longitudinal Gompertzian analysis, which utilized linear regression, tended to underestimate both genetic and environmental influences upon age-related mortality. A modified method of longitudinal Gompertzian analysis has been applied to mortality due to stomach cancer, cervical cancer and emphysema. This modified method of longitudinal Gompertzian analysis suggests that the genetic influence upon age-related mortality is essentially the same for both men and women. Moreover, application of this modified method suggests that environmental influences upon age-related mortality in the United States have been declining for the past 20 years for men and for the past 45 years for women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown 26506.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Riggs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009026:Mortality; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology