Causes of death behind low life expectancy of Danish women.
OBJECTIVE
The authors examined causes of death contributing to the relatively high mortality of Danish women born 1915-45, and evaluated the impact of smoking related causes of death.


METHODS
Age-period-cohort analysis of mortality of Danish women aged 40-89 in 1960-98. Estimate of the negative curvature in parabola patterns for 50 causes of death.


RESULTS
A total of 34 causes of death contributed to the relatively high mortality for women born 1915-45. The main contribution came from smoking-related causes of death.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate a high smoking prevalence to be the main explanation behind the relatively low life expectancy of Danish women born 1915-45.
Jacobsen
Rune
R
Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. ruj@niph.dk
Keiding
Niels
N
Lynge
Elsebeth
E
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality