title: Stroke-attributable death among older persons during the great recession.
abstract: Epidemiological evidence indicates an elevated risk for stroke among stressed persons, in general, and among individuals who have lost their job, in particular. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that stroke accounted for a larger fraction of deaths during the Great Recession than expected from other deaths and from trends, cycles, and other forms of autocorrelation. Based on vital statistics death data from California spanning 132 months from January 2000 through December 2010, we found support for the hypothesis. These findings appear attributable to non-Hispanic white men, who experienced a 5% increase in their monthly odds of stroke-attributable death. Total mortality in this group, however, did not increase. Findings suggest that 879 deaths among older white men shifted from other causes to stroke during the 36 months following the start of the Great Recession. We infer the Great Recession may have affected social, biologic, and behavioral risk factors that altered the life histories of older white men in ways that shifted mortality risk toward stroke.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: april.falconi@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Falconi
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley Department of Demography, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gemmill
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karasek
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Department of Community Health Sciences, Calgary, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Population Council, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bellows
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Catalano
mesh_terms: D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D057172:Economic Recession / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D020521:Stroke / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*
keywords: Great recession; Mortality; Stroke