title: A novel ecological methodology for constructing ethnic-majority life tables in the absence of individual ethnicity information.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Deprivation-specific life tables have been in use for some time, but health outcomes are also known to vary by ethnicity over and above deprivation. The mortality experiences of ethnic groups are little studied in the UK, however, because ethnicity is not captured on death certificates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Population data for all Output Areas (OAs) in England and Wales were stratified by age-group, sex and ethnic proportion, and matched to the deaths counts in that OA from 2000 to 2002. We modelled the relationship between mortality, age, deprivation and ethnic proportion. We predicted mortality rates for an area that contained the maximum proportion of each ethnic group reported in any area in England and Wales, using a generalised linear model with a Poisson distribution adjusted for deprivation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjustment, Asian and White life expectancies between 1 and 80 years were very similar. Black men and women had lower life expectancies: men by 4 years and women by around 1.5 years. The Asian population had the lowest mortality of all groups over age 45 in women and over 50 in men, whereas the Black population had the highest rates throughout, except in girls under 15.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We adopted a novel ecological method of constructing ethnic-majority life tables, adjusted for deprivation. There is still diversity within these three broad ethnic groups, but our data show important residual differences in mortality for Black men and women. These ethnic life tables can be used to inform public health planning and correctly account for background mortality in ethnic subgroups of the population.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rachet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000208:ethnology*; D015993:Life Tables; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011203:Poverty; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: DEMOGRAPHY; EPIDEMIOLOGY; ETHNICITY; Health inequalities; STATISTICS