title: Women's death in Scandinavia--what makes Denmark different?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the mortality for women in Sweden, Norway and Denmark in order to search for clues for the low life expectancy of Danish women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective age-period-cohort study covering 40 years for all Swedish, Norwegian and Danish women aged 40-84 during the period 1960-2000, and born 1900-1950.
  
  
  METHODS
  Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for deaths.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The high risk of dying among Danish women was associated with being born between the two World Wars, and that a similar pattern was not found for women in Norway and Sweden. A tendency of a cohort effect was observed for Swedish women born around 1940.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The currently low life expectancy of Danish women compared with that of women in Norway and Sweden is partly a transitional phenomenon caused by excessive death rates for women born between the two World Wars. Data on smoking prevalence by birth cohort and age indicate that a high percentage of Danish women in these cohorts were smokers throughout their adult life.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej, Denmark. R.jacobsen@pubhealth.ku.dk
authors.forename: Rune
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: My
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Von Euler
authors.forename: Merete
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osler
authors.forename: Elsebeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lynge
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Keiding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends*; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology