Studies that treat quantitative mortality data analytically. Methodological studies primarily concerned with mortality are cited in this division and cross-referenced to N. Methods of Research and Analysis Including Models, if necessary. The main references to crude data are in the vital statistics items in S. Official Statistical Publications.
Studies of overall mortality and comparisons of several types of mortality. Studies dealing with two or more of the topics listed in this division are classified under the major section covered, or, if this is not self-evident, included here under General Mortality.
64:30123 Banister, Judith.
Perspectives on China's mortality trends. In: International
Population Conference/Congrès International de la Population:
Beijing, 1997, Volume 3. 1997. 1,335-51 pp. International Union for the
Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP]: Liège, Belgium. In Eng.
"This paper discusses reported recent trends in mortality in
the [People's Republic of China] based on the best available life
tables. Rural and urban mortality trends are addressed separately to
see if their paths have diverged during the economic reform period. We
then assess the ages at which mortality reporting is incomplete, and
discuss to what extent mortality underreporting changes our
conclusions. Explanations are sought for the trends
seen."
Correspondence: J. Banister, U.S. Bureau of the
Census, International Programs Center, Washington, D.C. 20233.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30124 Berlinguer, Giovanni.
Endogenous and exogenous mortality. [Mortalità endogena
ed esogena.] In: Démographie: analyse et synthèse. Causes
et conséquences des évolutions démographiques,
Volume 1. Sep 1997. 63-70 pp. Università degli Studi di Roma La
Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze Demografiche: Rome, Italy; Institut
National d'Etudes Démographiques [INED]: Paris, France;
Université Catholique de Louvain, Institut de
Démographie, Département des Sciences de la Population et
du Développement: Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. In Ita.
Some of
the problems inherent in the study of mortality in the modern world are
explored, with a focus on the traditional distinction that is generally
made between exogenous and endogenous causes of death. Consideration is
also given to the difficulties that can arise in distinguishing between
spontaneous and induced abortion.
Correspondence: G.
Berlinguer, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza,
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell'Uomo, Via Nomentana 41, Rome
00161, Italy. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30125 Burnett, Richard T.; Cakmak, Sabit;
Brook, Jeffrey R. The effect of the urban ambient air
pollution mix on daily mortality rates in 11 Canadian cities.
Canadian Journal of Public Health/Revue Canadienne de Santé
Publique, Vol. 89, No. 3, May-Jun 1998. 152-6 pp. Ottawa, Canada. In
Eng. with sum. in Fre.
The authors investigate "the risk of
premature mortality due to the urban ambient air pollution mix in
Canada.... Nitrogen dioxide had the largest effect on mortality with a
4.1% increased risk (p<0.01), followed by ozone at 1.8% (p<0.01),
sulphur dioxide at 1.4% (p<0.01), and carbon monoxide at 0.9%
(p=0.04) in multiple pollutant regression models. A 0.4% reduction in
premature mortality was attributed to achieving a sulphur content of
gasoline of 30 ppm in five Canadian cities, a risk reduction 12 times
greater than previously reported."
Correspondence: R.
T. Burnett, Health Canada, 203 Environmental Health Centre, Tunney's
Pasture, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L2, Canada. E-mail:
rick_burnett@hc-sc.gc.ca. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30126 Capocaccia, Riccardo; Farchi, Gino;
Barcherini, Sabrina; Verdecchia, Arduino; Mariotti, Sergio; Scipione,
Riccardo; Feola, Giuseppe; Cariani, Giovanni. Mortality in
Italy in 1993. [La mortalità in Italia nell'anno 1993.]
Rapporti ISTISAN, No. 97-33, 1997. ii, 60 pp. Istituto Superiore di
Sanità [ISTISAN]: Rome, Italy. In Ita. with sum. in Eng.
Data for mortality in Italy in 1993 are presented by age group and
cause of death. Regional totals are also included. The data are taken
from official sources.
Correspondence: Istituto Superiore
di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30127 Cohen, Barney; Montgomery, Mark
R. Introduction. In: From death to birth: mortality
decline and reproductive change, edited by Mark R. Montgomery and
Barney Cohen. 1998. 1-38 pp. National Academy Press: Washington, D.C.
In Eng.
"We offer our views as to why the relationship linking
mortality decline to fertility is likely to resist simplification and
easy generalization. We then document the astonishing diversity of
mortality and fertility transitions that have taken place in developing
countries over the past 40 years. The penultimate section of this
chapter previews the contribution of the remaining chapters in the
volume. The final section offers brief conclusions and draws out some
implications for policy."
Correspondence: B. Cohen,
National Research Council, Committee on Population, 2101 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20418. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30128 Das Gupta, Monica; Adetunji,
Jacob. Women and mortality trends. In: Women in the
third world: an encyclopedia of contemporary issues, edited by Nelly P.
Stromquist. 1998. 148-56 pp. Garland Publishing: New York, New
York/London, England. In Eng.
"Females have a biological
advantage in survival from the time of conception until old age. This
advantage can be reversed by active discrimination against females, as
is the case in much of South and East Asia. It can also be reversed
under conditions of poor nutrition, high fertility, and high levels of
maternal mortality. Under these conditions, the stresses of
reproduction can tilt the balance of survival advantage in favor of
males in the age groups of peak child-bearing. In some situations,
there also may be a pattern of disease that affects females more than
males. These deviations from the norm of female survival advantage are
discussed below, following a description of the basic advantage."
The primary geographical focus is on developing
countries.
Correspondence: M. Das Gupta, World Bank,
Research Division, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20433.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30129 Gavrilova, N. S.; Ermakov, S. P.;
Evdokushkina, G. N.; Gavrilov, L. A. An analysis of the
health and mortality data for the provinces of Russia. In:
International Population Conference/Congrès International de la
Population: Beijing, 1997, Volume 3. 1997. 1,245-57 pp. International
Union for the Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP]: Liège,
Belgium. In Eng.
"The purpose of this paper is to present the
methods of data collection and analysis to study the levels, trends and
patterns of mortality in Russia and its provinces.... An in-depth
analysis...[has] been carried out for one province (Sverdlovsk in Ural)
utilising a software called POTENTIAL-2. This paper presents the
findings of this study, and its relevance for study of mortality and
health conditions in the different regions of Russia, and their
application for health planning in the different
regions."
Correspondence: N. S. Gavrilova, Russian
Academy of Sciences, Institute for Systems Analysis, Leninsky Pr. 14,
117901 Moscow, Russia. Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
64:30130 Heuveline, Patrick.
"Between one and three million": towards the demographic
reconstruction of a decade of Cambodian history (1970-79).
Population Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1, Mar 1998. 49-65 pp. London,
England. In Eng.
"Estimates of mortality in Cambodia during
the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79) range from 20,000 deaths according to
former Khmer Rouge sources, to over three million victims according to
Vietnamese government sources. This paper uses an unusual data
source--the 1992 electoral lists registered by the United Nations--to
estimate the population size after the Khmer Rouge regime and the
extent of `excess' mortality in the 1970s.... The analysis of likely
causes of death that could have generated the age pattern of `excess'
mortality clearly shows a larger contribution of direct or violent
mortality than has been previously recognized."
This is a
revised version of a paper originally presented at the 1996 Annual
Meeting of the Population Association of
America.
Correspondence: P. Heuveline, University of
Pennsylvania, Population Studies Center, 3718 Locust Walk,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6298. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30131 Jerrett, Michael; Eyles, John; Cole,
Donald. Socioeconomic and environmental covariates of
premature mortality in Ontario. Social Science and Medicine, Vol.
47, No. 1, Jul 1998. 33-49 pp. Oxford, England. In Eng.
The authors
examine some covariates of premature mortality by performing "a
multiple regression analysis of ecologic data from the 49 counties of
Ontario.... Educational levels were a strong predictor of population
health, showing a consistent inverse relationship with premature
mortality ratios for both sexes and it was the strongest predictor for
females. A low income variable supplied the strongest prediction for
male mortality. This variable displayed a positive association with
male mortality. Municipal expenditures on environmental protection
exerted a negative effect on male
mortality."
Correspondence: M. Jerrett, San Diego
State University, Department of Geography, 5500 Campanile Drive, San
Diego, CA 92182-4493. Location: Princeton University Library
(PR).
64:30132 Kedelski, Mieczyslaw.
The age pyramid and life tables for the population of Silesia in
1864. [Piramida wieku i tablice trwania zycia ludnosci Slaska w
1864 roku.] Przeszlosc Demograficzna Polski: Materialy i Studia, No.
20, 1997. 49-71 pp. Warsaw, Poland. In Pol. with sum. in Eng.
Data
from historical Prussian sources are used to produce an age pyramid and
life tables for the population of Silesia in 1864, and to provide a
picture of mortality trends in the province during the second half of
the nineteenth century.
Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30133 Paccaud, Fred; Pinto, Claudio S.;
Marazzi, Alfio; Mili, Judith. Age at death and
rectangularisation of the survival curve: trends in Switzerland,
1969-1994. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Vol. 52,
No. 7, Jul 1998. 412-5 pp. London, England. In Eng.
The objective
of this article is "to check if signs of rectangularisation of the
survival curve appeared during recent decades in Switzerland--that is,
if life expectancy is approaching a maximum with a clustering of age at
death around an average value (the so called `compression of
mortality')." The data used are from death certificates recording
all deaths of Swiss residents during the period 1969-1994. The results
indicate that "age at death is increasing at a sustained rate at
all percentiles equal or greater than 50, without any slow down in the
trend during this period. The increase is more marked among women.
Rates of increase are diminishing as the percentiles of age at death
are higher, suggesting some clustering of deaths beyond the median
value. However, the maximum age at death, if any, seems to be far from
the current median values, even for women who enjoy a relatively high
median age at death."
Correspondence: F. Paccaud,
University of Lausanne, School of Medicine, Institute for Social and
Preventive Medicine, Bugnon 17, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30134 Turpeinen, Oiva.
Mortality and causes of death in Helsinki in 1750-1865 with a
comparison with Tallinn. Yearbook of Population Research in
Finland, Vol. 34, 1997. 47-70 pp. Helsinki, Finland. In Eng.
"It is interesting to study the changes in mortality and
causes of death in Helsinki during the period 1750-1865.... In addition
to...chronological comparisons, the existing data allow us to make a
limited regional analysis.... A parallel comparison will be made of
mortality and, as far as is possible, the causes of death in Helsinki
[Finland] and Tallinn [Estonia]."
Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30135 van Doorn, Carol.
Spouse-rated limitations and spouse-rated life expectancy as
mortality predictors. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences,
Vol. 53, No. 3, May 1998. 137-43 pp. Washington, D.C. In Eng.
"Survival analyses are used to examine the predictive value of
spouse-rated limitations due to health problems and spouse-rated life
expectancy for 3-year mortality in a community sample of elderly
Australian married couples, net of health status indicators, health
behaviors, and sociodemographic factors. Tests for gender differences
in the effects and for empirical overlap with self-ratings of health
and life expectancy were also done. Findings show that both
spouse-ratings are predictive of husbands' mortality, while for wives'
mortality the parallel measures are not predictive in the adjusted
model.... The independent effect suggests that wives are more astute
reporters or judges of their husbands' mortality risk or that wives'
perceptions indicate tangible influences on husbands' health and
mortality risks."
Correspondence: C. van Doorn, Yale
University School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public
Health, 60 College Street, P.O. Box 208034, New Haven, CT 06510-8034.
E-mail: carol.vandoorn@yale.edu. Location: Princeton
University Library (SW).
64:30136 van Hoorn, W. D.; de Beer,
J. Analysis and projection of national and regional
mortality for countries of the European Economic Area.
Maandstatistiek van de Bevolking, Vol. 98, No. 6, Jun 1998. 8-16 pp.
Voorburg, Netherlands. In Eng.
"Three scenarios of future
mortality trends are presented for all countries of the European
Economic Area. The high scenario assumes a considerable decline in
mortality rates. Consequently life expectancy at birth will continue to
increase at about the same rate as during the last decades.... In the
low scenario only a small decline in death rates is assumed. This
scenario assumes that there will be no convergence between countries.
Moreover the current differences between male and female mortality are
assumed to persist."
Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30137 Walberg, Peder; McKee, Martin;
Shkolnikov, Vladimir; Chenet, Laurent; Leon, David A.
Economic change, crime, and mortality crisis in Russia: regional
analysis. British Medical Journal, Vol. 317, No. 7154, Aug 1,
1998. 312-8 pp. London, England. In Eng.
An attempt is made to
identify which aspects of socioeconomic change were associated with the
steep decline in life expectancy that occurred in Russia between 1990
and 1994. The authors present a "regression analysis of regional
data, with percentage fall in male life expectancy as dependent
variable and a range of socioeconomic measures reflecting transition,
change in income, inequity, and social cohesion as independent
variables. [They attempt to determine the] contribution of deaths from
major causes and in each age group to changes in both male and female
life expectancy at birth in regions with the smallest and largest
decline.... [Results indicate that] the fall in life expectancy at
birth varied widely between regions, with declines for men and women
highly correlated. The regions with the largest falls were
predominantly urban, with high rates of labour turnover, large
increases in recorded crime, and a higher average but unequal
distribution of household income."
Correspondence: M.
McKee, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, European Centre
on Health of Socieities in Transition, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT,
England. E-mail: m.mckee@lshtm.ac.uk. Location: Princeton
University Library (SZ).
64:30138 Wnek, Konrad. Methods of
analyzing the relationship between seasonal variations in mortality and
climatic phenomena. [Metody badania korelacji sezonowosci
zgonów ze zjawiskami klimatycznymi.] Przeszlosc Demograficzna
Polski: Materialy i Studia, No. 20, 1997. 35-48 pp. Warsaw, Poland. In
Pol. with sum. in Eng.
Data concerning the Polish town of Lvov over
the course of the nineteenth century and the twentieth century up to
1938 are used to analyze the relationship of climatic factors such as
variations in barometric pressure and temperature on mortality. The
results suggest that this relationship became stronger over time as
excess mortality from famine and epidemic diseases declined, and the
natural seasonal variations in mortality became more
evident.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30139 Wolleswinkel-van den Bosch, Judith
H.; van Poppel, Frans W. A.; Tabeau, Ewa; Mackenbach, Johan P.
Mortality decline in the Netherlands in the period 1850-1992: a
turning point analysis. Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 47, No.
4, Aug 1998. 429-43 pp. Exeter, England. In Eng.
"The aim of
this paper is to give a detailed and fairly objective description of
rapid mortality decline in the Netherlands between 1850 and 1992 with
respect to the start, end, and phases of the decline. Turning points
were estimated for the standardized mortality trend, and for age and
sex-specific trends between 1850-1992. The technique used was derived
from spline functions. The turning points divided the trends into
phases with different paces of decline. Standardized mortality started
to decline rapidly in the Netherlands around 1880. Four phases in the
period of decline could be distinguished: 1880-1917 (1.2% annually),
1917-1955 (1.6%), 1955-1970 (0.4%), 1970-1992 (1.1%). For nearly all
age groups, the most rapid decline occurred in a period comparable to
1917-1955. Causes of death which might have shaped the standardized
mortality trend are, among others, respiratory tuberculosis (1917),
heart disease (except ischemic) (1955), and ischemic heart disease
(1970). Causes of death that shaped the mortality trend are related to
trends of determinants of mortality decline. The technique used in this
paper can also be applied to other trends e.g. fertility
decline."
Correspondence: J. H. Wolleswinkel-van den
Bosch, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Faculty of Medicine and Health
Sciences, Department of Public Health, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR
Rotterdam, Netherlands. Location: Princeton University Library
(PR).
64:30140 Zhang, Weimin; Li, Xiru.
Analysis on mortality level of Chinese population. In:
International Population Conference/Congrès International de la
Population: Beijing, 1997, Volume 3. 1997. 1,327-34 pp. International
Union for the Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP]: Liège,
Belgium. In Eng.
"After the 1990 Population Census, [China's]
State Statistical Bureau [SSB]...compiled and published [a] national
life-table and life-tables of 30 provinces (including autonomous
regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) by
sex.... This paper will introduce the evaluations and adjustments [the]
SSB made over the 1990 data of population death rates, and analysis
will be made on the level, pattern and regional differences of
mortality rates of China in [the] early
1990s."
Correspondence: W. Zhang, State Statistical
Bureau, Department of Population and Employment Statistics, Beijing,
China. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Studies dealing primarily with fetal and neonatal mortality, except those dealing with spontaneous abortions, which are classified under F.3. Sterility and Other Pathology, and those studies dealing with induced abortions, which are classified under F.4.5. Induced Abortion. Perinatal mortality is defined as mortality occurring between the twenty-eighth week of gestation and the seventh day of life.
64:30141 Chen, Li-Mei; Sun, Chien-An; Wu,
Der-Min; Shen, Muh-Han; Lee, Wen-Chung. Underregistration
of neonatal deaths: an empirical study of the accuracy of infantile
vital statistics in Taiwan. Journal of Epidemiology and Community
Health, Vol. 52, No. 5, May 1998. 289-92 pp. London, England. In Eng.
"This study aimed to survey infant deaths [in Taiwan], to
measure associated vital statistics, and compare them with the official
statistics to assess accuracy.... A nationwide [1989] survey...was
conducted to collect data from 23 counties and cities nationwide....
The survey derived infant death rate was 9.72 per 1,000 live births,
which was higher than the reported official statistics of 5.71 per
1,000 live births. A more detailed examination of data on infant deaths
showed that the estimated neonatal death rate of 6.68 per 1,000 live
births...was significantly higher than the published official
statistics of 1.94 per 1,000 live births, while the postneonatal
mortality of 3.04 per 1,000 live births was comparable to the reported
statistics of 3.37 per 1,000 live births."
Correspondence:
L.-M. Chen, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Department of Public
Health, College of Medicine, Taipei County, Taiwan. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30142 Hart, Nicky. Beyond
infant mortality: gender and stillbirth in reproductive mortality
before the twentieth century. Population Studies, Vol. 52, No. 2,
Jul 1998. 215-29 pp. London, England. In Eng.
"Though it has
been the largest component of reproductive mortality since its
statutory registration [in England and Wales] in 1928, stillbirth has
received little attention from historical demographers, who have relied
on the more orthodox indicator of early human survival changes--`infant
mortality'. The exclusion of stillbirth hampers demographic analysis,
underestimates progress in newborn vitality, and over-privileges
post-natal causes in theoretical explanation. A case is made for
estimating stillbirth before 1928 as a ratio of early neonatal death,
and for employing perinatal mortality as an historical indicator of
female health status. The long-run trend of reproductive mortality
(encompassing mature foetal and live born infant death during the first
eleven months) reveals a substantial decline in perinatal causes in the
first industrial century (1750-1850), implying a major concurrent
improvement in the nutritional status of child
bearers."
Correspondence: N. Hart, University of
California, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30143 Koschin, Felix. What is
the height of the force of mortality on the beginning of human
life? [Jak vysoká je intenzita úmrtnosti na
pocátku lidského zivota?] Demografie, Vol. 40, No. 2,
1998. 103-12 pp. Prague, Czech Republic. In Cze. with sum. in Eng.
The author analyzes trends in perinatal mortality in the Czech
Republic during the period 1990-1995. The impact of errors in
estimation techniques on death rates is assessed.
Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30144 Xu, Baizhuang; Rantakallio, Paula;
Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Fang, Xiou Ling. Sex
differentials in perinatal mortality in China and Finland. Social
Biology, Vol. 44, No. 3-4, Fall-Winter 1997. 170-8 pp. Port Angeles,
Washington. In Eng.
"This study describes patterns of sex
differentials in perinatal mortality in China and Finland. The analysis
is based on three population-based one-year birth cohorts, one from
Qingdao, China, in 1992 and two from Northern Finland in 1966 and
1985-86.... Both Finnish cohorts had an excess of male over female
perinatal deaths, but in the Chinese cohort girls were more likely to
die than boys.... Our results suggest that the role of different social
and cultural environments on the existing sex differentials in
perinatal mortality between the countries needs further
evaluation."
Correspondence: B. Xu, Oulu University,
Department of Public Health Science and General Practice, Oulu,
Finland. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Studies of infant mortality under one year of age, including neonatal mortality occurring after the seventh day of life, and childhood mortality after one year of age. The subject of infanticide, deliberate or implied, is also classified under this heading.
64:30145 Baqui, A. H.; Black, R. E.; Arifeen,
S. E.; Hill, K.; Mitra, S. N.; Al Sabir, A. Causes of
childhood deaths in Bangladesh: results of a nationwide verbal autopsy
study. Bulletin of the World Health Organization/Bulletin de
l'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé, Vol. 76, No. 2, 1998.
161-71 pp. Geneva, Switzerland. In Eng. with sum. in Fre.
"The
present study was undertaken to update the information available on
causes of deaths among under-5-year-olds, taking advantage of advances
in verbal autopsy methodology and of the national Bangladesh
Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 1993-94. About 25% of the
deaths were associated with acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI)
and about 20% with diarrhoea. Neonatal tetanus and measles remained
important causes of death, and drowning was a major cause for
1-4-year-olds."
Correspondence: A. H. Baqui, G.P.O Box
128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30146 Bourdelais, Patrice; Demonet,
Michel. Infant mortality in French cities in the
mid-nineteenth century. In: The decline of infant and child
mortality. The European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A.
Corisini and Pier P. Viazzo. 1997. 95-108 pp. Martinus Nijhoff:
Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
"Urban mortality was a
fundamental variable essential to understanding the dynamics of the
epidemiological and health transition in France during the nineteenth
century.... Our objective is to disaggregate the effects of factors
that indicate the level and patterns of urban [infant and child]
mortality and to use multivariate analysis to rank them hierarchically.
This will allow us to assess, for example, the effect on mortality of
geographical location, size and the rate of growth, as well as
socio-economic factors."
Correspondence: P.
Bourdelais, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 54 boulevard
Raspail, 75006 Paris, France. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30147 Brockerhoff, Martin; Hewett,
Paul. Ethnicity and child mortality in Sub-Saharan
Africa. Population Council Policy Research Division Working Paper,
No. 107, 1998. 45 pp. Population Council, Policy Research Division: New
York, New York. In Eng.
"This paper uses survey data from 12
countries to examine whether ethnic inequality in child mortality is
indeed pervasive throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The focus is on child
mortality since the early 1980s.... Of special interest to this study
is the relationship between child survival and the dominance of certain
ethnic groups in the national political
economy."
Correspondence: Population Council, Policy
Research Division, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30148 Collins, James W.; Hawkes, Elizabeth
K. Racial differences in post-neonatal mortality in
Chicago: what risk factors explain the black infant's
disadvantage? Ethnicity and Health, Vol. 2, No. 1-2, Mar-Jun 1997.
117-25 pp. Abingdon, England. In Eng.
"To investigate the
extent to which the place of residence affects the black to white
differential in post-neonatal (28-365 days) mortality, we performed a
univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression of the
1982-1983 Illinois vital records, Chicago Police violent crime
information and 1980 U.S. Census income data.... Four environmental
predictors of post-neonatal death were examined: a median family income
of <$10,000 per year, a poverty prevalence of >50%, violent crime
rates of >11/1000 and limited community access to primary medical
care.... The post-neonatal mortality rate of black (n=50,765) infants
was three times that of white (n=50,690) infants.... When
the...environmental risk factors were taken into account, the OR [odds
ratio] for black infants declined from 3.0...to
1.7...."
Correspondence: J. W. Collins, Children's
Memorial Hospital, Division of Neonatology, #45, Chicago, IL 60614.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30149 Corsini, Carlo A.; Viazzo, Pier
P. The decline of infant and child mortality. The European
experience: 1750-1990. ISBN 90-411-0466-6. 1997. xxxi, 258 pp.
Martinus Nijhoff: Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
"This volume
contains revised versions of the papers presented at the Second
Innocenti Seminar on the Decline of Infant and Child Mortality in
Europe, held in Florence on 5-6 December 1994...." The book
"makes a very important contribution to the literature...by
showing that an understanding of infant and child mortality trends
requires the simultaneous use of diverse techniques and an analytical
effort that is multidisciplinary in nature. This is a crucial point not
just because it will help policy makers to avoid supporting decisions
that are based on simplistic analyses, but also because we have here
the proof that infant and child mortality is an essential entry point
in attempts to set different processes in motion to promote systemic
changes in a society."
Selected items will be cited in this or
subsequent issues of Population Index.
Correspondence:
Kluwer Law International, P.O. Box 85889, 2508 CN, The Hague,
Netherlands. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30150 Das Gupta, Monica.
Methodology and main findings on child survival of the Khanna
restudy, 1984-1988. In: Prospective community studies in
developing countries, edited by Monica Das Gupta et al. 1997. 81-100
pp. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England; International Union for the
Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP]: Liège, Belgium. In Eng.
"This chapter describes the restudy carried out in the eleven
villages of Ludhiana District of Punjab State, India, which were
originally studied in the Khanna Study by John Gordon and John Wyon in
the 1950s.... The main objective of this restudy was to study the
demographic transition taking place in this society, with a focus on
the interrelationships between social and demographic change in this
society in the process of transition." The focus is on the
findings of the restudy relevant to infant and child mortality,
specifically "the concentration of excess female child mortality
on girls of higher birth order, and the tendency for child deaths to
cluster disproportionately amongst a small proportion of
families."
For a related study by Wyon, see elsewhere in this
issue.
Correspondence: M. Das Gupta, World Bank, Research
Division, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20433. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30151 Ferreira, Carlos E. de C.; Flores,
Luís P. O. The dimensions of infant mortality in
São Paulo. Brazilian Journal of Population Studies, Vol. 1,
1997-1998. 145-64 pp. São Paulo, Brazil. In Eng.
The authors
analyze trends and patterns in infant mortality in São Paulo,
Brazil, in the twentieth century. Aspects considered include the
dimensions of infant mortality, causes of death, and rates by age and
sex. The quality of data on differential infant mortality is
assessed.
Correspondence: C. E. de C. Ferreira,
Fundação Sistema Estadual de Analise de Dados, Avenida
Casper Libero 464, Caixa Postal 8223, 01033 SP, Brazil. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30152 Gomes, Jaime de O.; Santo, Augusto
H. Infant mortality in a midwestern city of southeastern
Brazil, 1990 to 1992. [Mortalidade infantil em município da
região Centro-Oeste Paulista, Brasil, 1990 a 1992.] Revista de
Saúde Pública/Journal of Public Health, Vol. 31, No. 4,
Aug 1997. 330-41 pp. São Paulo, Brazil. In Por. with sum. in
Eng.
"Infant mortality was studied in an urban area of
Southeastern Brazil in the period from 1990 to 1992 using data from
death certificates collected at the registry office.... The analysis
using multiple causes statistics shows that 76.05% of the deaths have
underlying causes related to neonatal disorders and confirms the
relationship with the weight deficiencies of the newborn. The maternal
complications were also related to weight deficiencies. Great
differences were identified in infant mortality rates in urban zones
not only restricted to the value of the rates but also to the diseases
responsible for the occurrence of deaths."
Correspondence:
J. de O. Gomes, Caixa Postal 957, 19060-900 Presidente Prudente,
São Paulo, Brazil. E-mail: jogomes@prudenet.com.br.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30153 Grummer-Strawn, Laurence M.; Stupp,
Paul W.; Mei, Zuguo. Effect of a child's death on birth
spacing: a cross-national analysis. In: From death to birth:
mortality decline and reproductive change, edited by Mark R. Montgomery
and Barney Cohen. 1998. 39-73 pp. National Academy Press: Washington,
D.C. In Eng.
"Our purpose in this chapter is to examine the
potential pathways through which infant and child mortality can affect
the interval between births. Specifically, we examine the extent to
which the death of a child tends to shorten the time until the birth of
the next child.... By teasing out the mechanisms for the linkage, we
will better understand the future course of fertility and mortality in
developing countries. The analysis uses data from phases 1 and 2 of the
Demographic and Health Surveys.... We first present evidence of the
magnitude of the effects on the birth interval for a variety of
countries and then address the mechanisms through which these effects
may operate."
Correspondence: L. M. Grummer-Strawn,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta,
GA 30333. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30154 Hionidou, Violetta.
Infant mortality in Greece, 1859-1959: problems and research
perspectives. In: The decline of infant and child mortality. The
European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A. Corisini and Pier P.
Viazzo. 1997. 155-72 pp. Martinus Nijhoff: Dordrecht, Netherlands. In
Eng.
The author analyzes infant mortality in Mykonos, Greece, from
1859 to 1959. "In the first [part], the sources and the
methodology that were used are briefly presented, together with an
assessment of the data quality. In the second part, the changes over
time are examined, and in particular the timing of infant mortality
decline and its possible causes. In the final part, a comparison
between infant mortality for the island population of Mykonos and that
for the whole of Greece is made and an agenda for future research is
set."
Correspondence: V. Hionidou, University of
Southampton, Department of Social Statistics, Southampton SO9 5NH,
England. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30155 Kishor, Sunita; Parasuraman,
Sulabha. Mother's employment and infant and child
mortality in India. National Family Health Survey Subject Report,
No. 8, Apr 1998. 40 pp. International Institute for Population Sciences
[IIPS]: Mumbai, India; Macro International, Demographic and Health
Surveys [DHS]: Calverton, Maryland. In Eng.
"Despite its many
advantages, the employment of women in economic activity in India has
been associated with increased mortality for infants and young
children. Simultaneously, narrower gender differentials in child
mortality among employed women have been noted. This report examines
whether these conclusions are upheld at the level of the typical Indian
mother.... [Results indicate that] mothers who are employed have a 10
percent higher infant-mortality rate and a 36 percent higher
child-mortality rate than mothers who are not employed. Male mortality
increases more than female mortality if mothers
work."
Correspondence: International Institute for
Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumbai 400 088,
India. E-mail: iips.nfhs@axcess.net.in. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30156 Knudsen, Lisbeth B.;
Källén, A. J. Bengt. Infant mortality in
Denmark and Sweden: a comparison based on data in two national
registries. European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and
Reproductive Biology, Vol. 75, No. 1, Dec 1997. 85-90 pp. Limerick,
Ireland. In Eng.
The authors "study in detail the differences
in infant mortality between Denmark and Sweden.... Even after
stratification for maternal age, parity, and socio-economic group, the
Danish mortality rate was higher in all age-at-death intervals except
for stillbirths. Maternal age-parity distribution was more favourable
in Denmark, the socio-economic distribution [was more favorable] in
Sweden. The most marked country difference was seen in young women. The
difference in the rate of perinatal deaths but not of later death is
explainable by a more favourable birth weight distribution in Sweden
than in Denmark."
Correspondence: A. J. B.
Källén, University of Lund, Tornblad Institute, Lund,
Sweden. E-mail: embryol@embryol.lu.se. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30157 Koupilová, Ilona;
Bobák, Martin; Holcík, Jan; Pikhart, Hynek; Leon, David
A. Increasing social variation in birth outcomes in the
Czech Republic after 1989. American Journal of Public Health, Vol.
88, No. 9, Sep 1998. 1,343-7 pp. Washington, D.C. In Eng.
The
impact of the political changes that have occurred in the Czech
Republic since 1989 on birth outcomes is assessed. The data concern all
singleton births reported for the years 1989-1991 and 1994-1996, which
were individually linked to death records. The results indicate that
"despite general improvement in the indices of fetal growth and
infant survival in the most recent years, social variation in birth
outcome in the Czech Republic has
increased."
Correspondence: I. Koupilová,
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, European Centre on
Health of Societies in Transition, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT,
England. Location: Princeton University Library (SZ).
64:30158 Luther, Norman Y.
Mother's tetanus immunisation is associated not only with lower
neonatal mortality but also with lower early-childhood mortality.
National Family Health Survey Bulletin, No. 10, Apr 1998. 4 pp.
International Institute for Population Sciences [IIPS]: Mumbai, India.
In Eng.
The author "uses data from the survey to examine how
neonatal (first month) and early-childhood (1-47 months) mortality [in
India] vary according to mother's tetanus immunisation. Controlling for
the effects of 13 potentially confounding demographic and socioeconomic
variables, the analysis shows that mother's tetanus immunisation is
associated not only with reduced neonatal mortality, which is expected,
but also with substantially reduced early-childhood mortality, which is
a surprising result."
Correspondence: International
Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumbai
400 088, India. E-mail: iips.nfhs@axcess.net.in. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30159 Masuy-Stroobant, Godelieve.
Infant health and infant mortality in Europe: lessons from the past
and challenges for the future. In: The decline of infant and child
mortality. The European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A.
Corisini and Pier P. Viazzo. 1997. 1-34 pp. Martinus Nijhoff:
Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
"Since 1900, the evolution of
infant mortality in European countries has been accompanied by very
significant shifts in the age-at-death distribution and in the pattern
of its medical causes. With these similarities in secular tendencies,
we contrast the persistence of differences in the level of mortality
between countries and even a surprising stability in the geographical
pattern of European infant mortality during the twentieth century. The
comparative analysis of the evolution of risks of infant mortality by
age should allow for the identification of the modalities for different
countries and possibly lead to better understanding of the inequalities
between countries that still remain."
Correspondence:
G. Masuy-Stroobant, Catholic University of Louvain, Institute of
Demography, Place de l'Université 1, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30160 Mexico. Instituto Nacional de
Estadística, Geografía e Informática [INEGI]
(Aguascalientes, Mexico). Infant mortality in Mexico,
1990. Estimates by federal entity and municipality. [La mortalidad
infantil en México, 1990. Estimaciones por entidad federativa y
municipio.] ISBN 970-13-1128-0. 1996. viii, 96 pp. Aguascalientes,
Mexico. In Spa.
Estimates of infant mortality in Mexico are
presented by federal administrative division and municipality, using
data from the 1990 census. A brief discussion is included on trends in
infant mortality and on differences among the districts and
municipalities.
Correspondence: Instituto Nacional de
Estadística, Geografía e Informática, Edificio
Sede, Avenida Héroe de Nacozari No. 2301 Sur, Fracc. Jardines
del Parque, C.P. 20270, Aguascalientes, Mexico. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30161 Montgomery, Mark R.; Cohen,
Barney. From death to birth: mortality decline and
reproductive change. ISBN 0-309-05896-1. LC 97-33802. 1998. x, 426
pp. National Academy Press: Washington, D.C. In Eng.
"The
papers in this volume were first presented at...a workshop, held in
November 1995, which was designed to bring together researchers from a
variety of different disciplines to discuss what is known about how
changes in infant and child mortality risk affect reproductive
outcomes....The chapters in this volume contribute to the theoretical,
methodological, and empirical literature on three broad fronts: by
refining the mechanisms through which mortality decline can affect
fertility; by providing a reassessment of the historical record; and by
supplying new evidence from detailed case studies in developing
countries."
Selected items will be cited in this or subsequent
issues of Population Index.
Correspondence: National
Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20418.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30162 Montgomery, Mark R.
Learning and lags in mortality perceptions. In: From death to
birth: mortality decline and reproductive change, edited by Mark R.
Montgomery and Barney Cohen. 1998. 112-37 pp. National Academy Press:
Washington, D.C. In Eng.
"In the first section I consider a
model of Bayesian learning about child survival in which individual
perceptions are determined by a prior distribution that summarizes
initial subjective beliefs about mortality probabilities, these beliefs
then being updated by reference to a sample of information on mortality
experience, yielding a posterior distribution that summarizes how
beliefs change in the light of experience.... In the second section
some of the major findings from this experimental literature are
reported, and I speculate about their implications for mortality
perceptions. In the final section I present conclusions and offer
suggestions for a demographic research agenda." The geographical
scope is worldwide.
Correspondence: M. R. Montgomery, State
University of New York, Department of Economics, Stony Brook, NY 11790.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30163 Moss, Nancy E.; Carver,
Karen. The effect of WIC and Medicaid on infant mortality
in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 88,
No. 9, Sep 1998. 1,354-61 pp. Washington, D.C. In Eng.
The impact
of participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Medicaid on the risk of infant
death in the United States is explored using data from the 1988
National Maternal and Infant Health Survey. "Participation in the
WIC program during pregnancy and infancy was associated with a reduced
risk of endogenous and exogenous infant deaths (odds ratios [ORs] =
0.68 and 0.62, respectively). The risk of endogenous death among
infants whose mothers participated in Medicaid during pregnancy was
equal to that of the privately insured (OR = 1.04). Uninsured infants
faced higher risks of endogenous death (OR =
1.42)."
Correspondence: N. E. Moss, 701 Garland, Palo
Alto, CA 94303-3604. E-mail: nemoss@worldnet.att.net. Location:
Princeton University Library (SZ).
64:30164 Oldenburg, C. E. Michael; Rasmussen,
Finn; Cotten, Niki U. Ethnic differences in rates of
infant mortality and sudden infant death in Sweden, 1978-1990.
European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 7, No. 1, Mar 1997. 88-94 pp.
Oxford, England. In Eng.
"This study examined ethnic
differences in infant mortality rates (IMRs) and rates of sudden infant
death syndrome (SIDS) among Swedish and immigrant women between 1978
and 1990 in Sweden. The study population comprised 1,265,942 single
live births to women between the ages of 15 and 44 years in Sweden....
This study revealed no ethnic differences in IMRs. There were also no
ethnic differences in the mortality rates due to SIDS, except for
immigrant women from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands who
experienced significantly higher rates of SIDS than Swedish
women."
Correspondence: F. Rasmussen, University
Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
Location: New York University, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New
York, NY.
64:30165 Rajan, S. Irudaya; Mohanachandran,
P. Infant and child mortality estimates--Part I.
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 19, May 9, 1998. 1,120-40
pp. Mumbai, India. In Eng.
"Using some of the information
obtained from the 1991 Census, an estimate has been made of the infant
and child mortality for all states and union territories along with
districts of India by place of residence and sex. We have also
estimated infant and child mortality by some social and economic
characteristics such as religion, caste, education and occupation for
all states and union territories."
Location: Princeton
University Library (PF).
64:30166 Rao, Saumya R.; Pandey, Arvind;
Shajy, K. I. Child mortality in Goa: a cross-sectional
analysis. Social Biology, Vol. 44, No. 1-2, Spring-Summer 1997.
101-10 pp. Port Angeles, Washington. In Eng.
"This paper is a
study of the determinants of child mortality in the relatively
developed Indian state of Goa. Data from the National Family Health
Survey (NFHS, 1992-93) conducted in the state of Goa have been used to
examine the child mortality experiences of 1,331 women who were within
a marriage lasting 15 years. An aggregated index of child mortality,
which summarizes the mortality experiences of a woman with exposure
adjustment, is the study variable. Maternal education and longer birth
spacing were found to lower child mortality risks
significantly."
Correspondence: S. R. Rao,
International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road,
Deonar, Mumbai 400 088, India. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30167 Reher, David S.; Pérez-Moreda,
Vicente; Bernabeu-Mestre, Josep. Assessing change in
historical contexts: childhood mortality patterns in Spain during the
demographic transition. In: The decline of infant and child
mortality. The European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A.
Corisini and Pier P. Viazzo. 1997. 35-56 pp. Martinus Nijhoff:
Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
"Data will be presented that
will offer proof of the heterogeneity of childhood mortality patterns
in rural Spain.... Appropriate indicators will be generated in
different regional contexts, and time-series dating from the early
nineteenth century to 1960 will be presented. Lags of as much as 30 or
40 years will emerge and the relative intensity of change will be shown
to vary sharply for different mortality indicators. Certain
regularities can be observed across regional contexts, which suggests
that the patterns observed transcend specific local contexts and are at
least in part independent of prevailing mortality levels and other
contextual constraints."
Correspondence: D. S. Reher,
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid,
Spain. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30168 Reid, Alice. Locality or
class? Spatial and social differentials in infant and child mortality
in England and Wales, 1895-1911. In: The decline of infant and
child mortality. The European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A.
Corisini and Pier P. Viazzo. 1997. 129-54 pp. Martinus Nijhoff:
Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
"Using the 1911 census to
calculate trends and differentials in infant and child mortality for
the 15 or so years leading up to 1911, I have attempted to reveal more
about [the role of class and locality in] the demographic transition in
England and Wales.... Analysis of the aggregate results from the 1911
census suggests that a child's chance of survival was strongly
conditioned by who its parents were, or, more precisely, by what job
its father did.... Using individual records from the same source I have
demonstrated that, once other factors are controlled for, the largest
differentials in infant and child mortality were associated with where
the child lived."
Correspondence: A. Reid, University
of Cambridge, Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social
Structure, Cambridge CB2 1TN, England. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30169 Rollet, Catherine.
Childhood mortality in high-risk groups: some methodological
reflections based on French experience. In: The decline of infant
and child mortality. The European experience: 1750-1990, edited by
Carlo A. Corisini and Pier P. Viazzo. 1997. 213-25 pp. Martinus
Nijhoff: Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
"This brief summary
and evaluation of the methods used in France to measure the mortality
of high-risk groups [in the nineteenth century] shows the progress that
was achieved (which was not linear) and its limits." Sections are
included on a model inquiry in 1889 on mortality among foundlings,
abandoned children, and orphans; problems associated with the use of
annual statistics; and the advocacy work of medical
practitioners.
Correspondence: C. Rollet, Université
Versailles/Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, 23 rue du Refuge, 78000
Versailles, France. Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
64:30170 Sastry, Narayan. A
nested frailty model for survival data, with an application to the
study of child survival in northeast Brazil. JASA: Journal of the
American Statistical Association, Vol. 92, No. 438, Jun 1997. 426-35
pp. Alexandria, Virginia. In Eng.
"This article presents a
multivariate hazard model for survival data that are clustered at two
hierarchical levels.... We apply the model to an analysis of the
covariates of child survival using survey data from northeast Brazil
collected via a hierarchically clustered sampling scheme. We find that
family and community frailty effects are fairly small in magnitude but
are of importance because they alter the results in a systematic
pattern."
Correspondence: N. Sastry, RAND Corporation,
1700 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30171 Scott, Cheryl L.; Iyasu, Solomon;
Rowley, Diane; Atrash, Hani K. Postneonatal mortality
surveillance--United States, 1980-1994. Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report, Vol. 47, No. SS-2, Jul 3, 1998. 15-30 pp. Atlanta,
Georgia. In Eng.
"This report contains public health
surveillance data that describe [U.S.] trends in postneonatal mortality
(PNM) [from 1980 to 1994] and that update information published in
1991.... The PNM rate per 1,000 live births declined 29.8% from 4.1 in
1980 to 2.9 in 1994 (31.7% decline among white infants and 25.8% among
black). Most of the decline resulted from reduced mortality from
infections and sudden infant death syndrome.... The decline of PNM
rates for birth defects was greater for white infants than for black
infants. The racial gap in PNM rates widened regionally during the
study period, except in the South and the Northeast where ratios
remained stable."
Correspondence: C. L. Scott, U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive
Health, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30333. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30172 Stoltenberg, Camilla; Magnus, Per;
Lie, Rolv T.; Daltveit, Anne K.; Irgens, Lorentz M.
Influence of consanguinity and maternal education on risk of
stillbirth and infant death in Norway, 1967-1993. American Journal
of Epidemiology, Vol. 148, No. 5, Sep 1, 1998. 452-9 pp. Baltimore,
Maryland. In Eng.
"To analyze the influence of consanguinity
and maternal education on stillbirth and infant death for children born
in Norway between 1967 and 1993, the authors studied 7,274 children of
ethnic Pakistani origin and 1,431,055 children of Norwegian ethnic
origin. Of these children, 31.0% of the Pakistani children and 0.1% of
the Norwegian children had parents who were first cousins.
Consanguinity increased the relative risk of stillbirth...and infant
death...after adjustment of maternal education, maternal age, parity,
and year of birth. In 1985-1993, 29%...of stillbirths and infant deaths
among the Pakistani group were attributable to consanguinity. In the
Norwegian group, 17%...of the deaths were attributable to factors
associated with low maternal education, while in the Pakistani group,
the corresponding estimate was nonsignificant. The risks of stillbirth
and infant death were similar for children with non-consanguineous
parents in both populations."
Correspondence: C.
Stoltenberg, National Institute of Public Health, Department of
Population Health Sciences, Section of Epidemiology, P.O. Box 4404
Torshov, 0403 Oslo, Norway. Location: Princeton University
Library (SZ).
64:30173 Svenson, Lawrence W.; Schopflocher,
Donald P.; Sauve, R. S.; Robertson, Charlene M. T.
Alberta's infant mortality rate: the effect of the registration of
live newborns weighing less than 500 grams. Canadian Journal of
Public Health/Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique, Vol. 89, No.
3, May-Jun 1998. 188-9 pp. Ottawa, Canada. In Eng.
"We
undertook the present analysis to determine the effects of the
registration of live births weighing less than 500 grams on Alberta's
IMR [infant mortality rate] by linking data on birth and death
registrations and comparing the results with a chart review strategy
described elsewhere."
Correspondence: L. W. Svenson,
Alberta Health, Health Surveillance Branch, P.O. Box 1360, Station
Main, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 2N3, Canada. E-mail:
svensl@mail.health.gov.ab.ca. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30174 Viazzo, Pier P.; Bortolotto, Maria;
Zanotto, Andrea. A special case of decline: levels and
trends of infant mortality at Florence's foundling hospital,
1750-1950. In: The decline of infant and child mortality. The
European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A. Corisini and Pier P.
Viazzo. 1997. 227-46 pp. Martinus Nijhoff: Dordrecht, Netherlands. In
Eng.
The authors investigate infant mortality among foundlings in
Florence, Italy, from 1750 to 1950. Relationships between infant and
early childhood mortality are examined. Some differentials in infant
mortality are analyzed, including legitimacy, sex, financial subsidies,
and legal recognition of foundlings by their
mothers.
Correspondence: P. P. Viazzo, Università
degli Studi di Torino, Via Verdi 8, 10124 Turin, Italy. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30175 Victora, Cesar G.; Vaughan, J.
Patrick. Land tenure and child health in Rio Grande do
Sul: the relationship between agricultural production, malnutrition and
mortality. Brazilian Journal of Population Studies, Vol. 1,
1997-1998. 123-43 pp. São Paulo, Brazil. In Eng.
"Four
different approaches were applied to test the hypothesis that patterns
of land tenure and agricultural production in Rio Grande do Sul
[Brazil] are important infant mortality determinants. These studies
have employed various data sources on distinct analytical levels....
The results...provide reliable evidence of there being a strong
relationship between the degree of concentration of land tenure and
agricultural production on the one hand, and malnutrition and infant
mortality on the other."
Correspondence: C. G.
Victora, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Departamento de Medicina
Social, C.P. 464, 96001 Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30176 Vishwanath, L. S.
Efforts of colonial state to suppress female infanticide. Use of
sacred texts, generation of knowledge. Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 19, May 9, 1998. 1,104-12 pp. Mumbai, India. In
Eng.
This article summarizes the history of female infanticide in
India, and the British colonial government's efforts to suppress it,
from the time the British discovered the practice in 1789 to the
passage of the Female Infanticide Act in 1870. Information is included
on the reasons for and prevalence of the practice, the methods used,
and its effects on the sex ratio.
Location: Princeton
University Library (PF).
64:30177 Vögele, Jörg.
Urbanization, infant mortality and public health in Imperial
Germany. In: The decline of infant and child mortality. The
European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A. Corisini and Pier P.
Viazzo. 1997. 109-27 pp. Martinus Nijhoff: Dordrecht, Netherlands. In
Eng.
"This chapter attempts to analyse urban infant mortality
change in Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries against the background of increasing public health services.
As a prerequisite, levels and trends of urban infant mortality and the
changing patterns of disease will be analysed. Subsequently, the focus
will be on two major elements of sanitary reform--central water-supply
and sewage systems and municipal milk supply--and on the growing
infant-care movement. For this purpose, the specific developments in
the 10 most populous towns (in 1910) and average conditions in all
towns with population exceeding 15,000 inhabitants will form the core
of the following analysis."
Correspondence: J.
Vögele, Universität Düsseldorf, Institut für
Geschichte der Medizin, Universitätsstraße 1, 4000
Düsseldorf 1, Germany. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30178 Wang, Duolao; Murphy, Mike.
Covariates of infant mortality in China: an exploratory
approach. Social Biology, Vol. 45, No. 1-2, Spring-Summer 1998.
21-38 pp. Port Angeles, Washington. In Eng.
"To elucidate the
nature of the relationship between infant mortality in China and a
variety of covariates using data from the 2/1000 Chinese Fertility
Survey, we use a logistic regression model where the covariates are
transformed with the help of Alternating Conditional Expectation (ACE)
algorithm.... The study demonstrates the procedures and usefulness of
the ACE guided transformation in multivariate analysis. The transformed
covariates are then used to estimate the effects of a series of
socioeconomic and demographic factors collected in the study of infant
death in China. The study shows that after appropriate transformations,
all the demographic and socioeconomic variables selected have
statistically significant and direct influence on infant
death."
Correspondence: D. Wang, London School of
Economics, Houghton Street, Aldwych, London WC2A 2AE, England.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30179 Wolpin, Kenneth I. The
impact of infant and child mortality risk on fertility. In: From
death to birth: mortality decline and reproductive change, edited by
Mark R. Montgomery and Barney Cohen. 1998. 74-111 pp. National Academy
Press: Washington, D.C. In Eng.
The author discusses "the
micro foundations of fertility behavior in [developing country]
environments where there is significant infant and child mortality
risk. My purpose in this chapter is to clarify and summarize the
current state of knowledge. To that end, I survey and critically assess
three decades of research that has sought to understand and quantify
the impact of infant and child mortality risk on childbearing behavior.
To do so requires the explication of theory, estimation methodology,
and empirical findings."
Correspondence: K. I. Wolpin,
University of Pennsylvania, Department of Economics, 3718 Locust Walk,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30180 Woods, Robert; Williams, Naomi;
Galley, Chris. Differential mortality patterns among
infants and other young children: the experience of England and Wales
in the nineteenth century. In: The decline of infant and child
mortality. The European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A.
Corisini and Pier P. Viazzo. 1997. 57-72 pp. Martinus Nijhoff:
Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
"There is a long-standing
convention--almost a general `rule'--in the demographic literature that
the infant mortality rate...will normally be higher than the early
childhood mortality rate.... In this short and preliminary chapter we
begin to challenge the assumptions that underpin this convention. Most
of our examples are drawn from England and Wales in the nineteenth
century, but our arguments and the implications to be drawn therefrom
have a wider significance, which we shall attempt to
elaborate...."
Correspondence: R. Woods, University of
Liverpool, Department of Geography, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX,
England. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30181 Wright, Robert E.
Marital status and infant mortality. Canadian Studies in
Population, Vol. 24, No. 2, 1997. 147-61 pp. Edmonton, Canada. In Eng.
with sum. in Fre.
"This paper examines the relationship
between marital status and infant mortality in Jamaica. Discrete-time
hazard models that account for unobserved heterogeneity are estimated
using the demographic histories of the 1975/76 Jamaican Fertility
Survey. The analysis indicates that marital status is an important
factor in explaining differences in infant mortality. More specifically
(and contrary to what is found unconditionally), infant mortality is
higher in common-law (and visiting) unions compared to marriage, after
other factors thought to affect infant mortality are held
constant."
Correspondence: R. E. Wright, University of
Stirling, Stirling, Scotland. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30182 Wyon, John B.
Determinants of rates of early childhood sickness and death, and of
long birth intervals: evidence from the Khanna Study, rural Punjab,
India, 1954-1969. In: Prospective community studies in developing
countries, edited by Monica Das Gupta et al. 1997. 54-80 pp. Clarendon
Press: Oxford, England; International Union for the Scientific Study of
Population [IUSSP]: Liège, Belgium. In Eng.
"This
chapter reports selected findings from a longitudinal study of
community-based rates of deaths, sicknesses, and birth intervals in
eleven villages of the Punjab, India. These findings were the result of
broader studies of births, deaths, migrations, and population dynamics,
and a test of birth-control methods villagers could use on their own to
cause lower birth rates in some village communities." The focus
here is on the main findings with regard to high death rates in the
second year of life, infections and malnutrition as causes of death in
the first two years of life, the most frequent preventable causes of
death among preschool children, and the determinants of long birth
intervals. The relevance of the Khanna Study for subsequent practices
of longitudinal community health research and practice is
noted.
Correspondence: J. B. Wyon, Harvard School of Public
Health, Department of Population and International Health, 665
Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
Studies of age-specific mortality and of mortality in special groups defined by age.
64:30183 Dinkel, Reiner H.
Determination of mortality in the highest age groups: a study
supplementing the abridged life tables of the Federal Republic of
Germany by the method of extinct generations.
[Sterblichkeitsmessung in den obersten Altersstufen: Die Ergänzung
abgekürzter bundesdeutscher Sterbetafeln durch die Methode der
Extinct Generations.] Zeitschrift für
Bevölkerungswissenschaft, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1997. 493-509 pp.
Wiesbaden, Germany. In Ger. with sum. in Eng; Fre.
The author uses
the extinct generations method to calculate death probabilities at ages
over 85. "From birth cohorts 1870 on, this concept has been
adopted here for German data.... Recalculating death probabilities
above age 85 for the existing complete German life tables, the concept
of measurement by extinct generations proves to be well comparable in
accuracy to what was calculated by the German Statistical
Office."
Correspondence: R. H. Dinkel,
Universität Bamberg, Bevölkerungswissenschaft, Insb.
Quantitative Verfahren, Feldkirchenstraße 21, 96052 Bamberg,
Germany. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30184 Meddings, David R.; Hertzman, Clyde;
Barer, Morris L.; Evans, Robert G.; Kazanjian, Arminée; McGrail,
Kimberlyn; Sheps, Samuel B. Socioeconomic status,
mortality, and the development of cataract at a young age. Social
Science and Medicine, Vol. 46, No. 11, Jun 1998. 1,451-7 pp. Exeter,
England. In Eng.
"It has been hypothesized that senile
cataract may serve as a marker for generalised tissue aging.... An
earlier analysis we carried out to test this hypothesis revealed a
strong age-dependent relationship between undergoing cataract surgery
and subsequent mortality. Relative risks for dying over 9 [years] of
follow-up were particularly increased for individuals who had developed
cataract requiring operation between the ages of 50-65. This finding
prompted us to test the hypothesis that [younger patients between 50
and 65] undergoing surgery for cataract...would tend disproportionately
to be resident in areas of generally lower socioeconomic status.... The
results of this ecologic study prompt consideration of whether factors
which have the dual attributes of being correlates of socioeconomic
status and implicated in the development of cataract may play a role in
mediating the processes involved in the well known association of
socioeconomic status and mortality." Data are from a
population-based linked health data resource in British Columbia,
Canada.
Correspondence: D. R. Meddings, University of
British Columbia, Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, 5804
Fairview Avenue 429, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Location: Princeton University Library (PR).
64:30185 Thatcher, A. R.; Kannisto, V.;
Vaupel, J. W. The force of mortality at ages 80 to
120. Odense Monographs on Population Aging, Vol. 5, ISBN
87-7838-381-1. 1998. 104, 20 pp. Odense University Press: Odense,
Denmark. In Eng.
"The purpose of this monograph is to see
whether new data make it possible to re-assess the relative merits of
various contending models for the way in which the probability of dying
changes with age, at least in the range of ages from 80 to 120.
Thirteen countries have a sufficiently long run of reliable data to be
useful for the specialised purposes of the present analysis: Austria,
Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, France, Germany (West), Iceland,
Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. These
countries include almost 40 million persons who reached age 80, and
over 120,000 who reached age 100 during the period 1960-1990. The
analysis covers over 32 million deaths at age 80 and over in this
period. The results show that the Gompertz, Weibull, and Heligman and
Pollard models give estimates of mortality which are far too high above
age 100. The other three models studied--the logistic, Kannisto and
quadratic models--were all far closer to the observed values, and it is
not easy to choose among them. Based on various theoretical and
pragmatic considerations we conclude that the logistic model and its
Kannisto approximation are the best of the six models. The analysis
indicates that the probability of dying reaches a value of between
about 0.5 and 0.65, for both males and females at age
120."
Correspondence: Odense University Press,
Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark. E-mail: press@forlag.ou.dk.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30186 Waitzman, Norman J.; Smith, Ken
R. Phantom of the area: poverty-area residence and
mortality in the United States. American Journal of Public Health,
Vol. 88, No. 6, Jun 1998. 973-6 pp. Washington, D.C. In Eng.
"The purpose of the study was to conduct a national
multivariate analysis on poverty-area residence and mortality in the
United States.... Proportional hazards analyses were performed of the
effect of poverty-area residence on the risk of mortality among adult
examinees in the 1971 through 1974 National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey who were followed through 1987.... Poverty-area
residence was associated with significantly elevated risk of all-cause
mortality...and some cause-specific mortality among those aged 25
through 54 years, but not among those aged 55 through 74 years, at
baseline after adjustment for several individual and household
characteristics."
Correspondence: N. J. Waitzman,
University of Utah, Department of Economics, 1645 E Central Campus
Dr-Front, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9300. Location: Princeton
University Library (SZ).
64:30187 Wang, Jia; Jamison, Dean T.; Bos,
Eduard; Vu, My Thi. Poverty and mortality among the
elderly: measurement of performance in 33 countries, 1960-94.
Tropical Medicine and International Health, Vol. 2, No. 10, Oct 1997.
1,001-10 pp. Oxford, England. In Eng.
"This paper analyses the
effect of income and education on life expectancy and mortality rates
among the elderly in 33 countries for the period 1960-94 and assesses
how that relationship has changed over time as a result of technical
progress.... The data are from vital-registration based life tables
published by national statistical offices for several years during this
period.... The results indicate that, controlling for income, mortality
rates among the elderly have declined considerably over the past three
decades. We also find that poverty (as measured by low average income
levels) explains some of the variation in mortality rates among the
elderly across the countries in the sample. The explained amount of
variation is more substantial for females than for males."
Comparisons are made among several developed and developing
countries.
A revised version of this paper with corrected tables and
additional country-specific performance graphs is available from the
authors as Pacific Rim Publications Series Reprint, No.
28.
Correspondence: J. Wang, University of California,
Center for Pacific Rim Studies, 11292 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA
90095-1487. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Studies that present actual life table data and all studies concerned primarily with life tables, including the appropriate methodological studies. Life table studies that are concerned with topics other than mortality are classified under the appropriate heading and cross-referenced to this heading.
64:30188 Bah, Sulaiman M. A
critical analytical and historical review of South African published
life tables. Population Studies Centre Discussion Paper, No. 98-2,
ISBN 0-7714-2097-8. May 1998. 26 pp. University of Western Ontario,
Population Studies Centre: London, Canada. In Eng.
"The paper
gives a critical review of South African life tables published since
the 1920s. The life tables were constructed on the assumption that
vital registration was complete among whites, coloureds and Asians....
Even though the life tables published in the 1920s and 1930s were
meticulous and excellent pieces of work, they might have underestimated
mortality by assuming completeness in vital registration.... The life
tables among coloureds showed the most irregular
pattern."
Correspondence: University of Western
Ontario, Population Studies Centre, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada.
E-mail: sulaimanb@pwv.gov.za. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30189 Frias, Luís A. de M.;
Rodriguez, Paulo. Brazil: model life tables and stable
population. Brazilian Journal of Population Studies, Vol. 1,
1997-1998. 41-57 pp. São Paulo, Brazil. In Eng.
"In the
1974 Meeting of the Brazilian Association for Population Studies, Frias
and Leite presented a set of model life tables that were meant to
reflect the sex-age structure of Brazilian mortality. A later
examination of this study revealed the need for revision and further
development in order to improve this valid piece of work." The
present article reviews and complements the earlier
study.
Correspondence: L. A. de M. Frias,
Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica,
Av. Franklin Roosevelt 166, Centro 20021 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30190 Hong Kong. Census and Statistics
Department (Hong Kong, China). Hong Kong life tables:
1991-2016. Jun 1997. 47 pp. Hong Kong, China. In Eng; Chi.
Life tables are presented for Hong Kong by sex for the period
1991-2016. The tables for the years 1991-1995 are calculated using
results from the 1996 by-census, those for the years 2001, 2006, 2011,
and 2016 from estimates.
Correspondence: Census and
Statistics Department, Demographic Statistics Section, 6/F Fortress
Tower, 250 King's Road, North Point, Hong Kong, China. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30191 Paes, Neir A. Model
representation of mortality patterns. [Representação
de modelos padrões de mortalidade.] Revista Brasileira de
Estudos de População, Vol. 13, No. 2, Jul-Dec 1996.
169-82 pp. Campinas, Brazil. In Por. with sum. in Eng.
"In
this study a bibliographic review of the classical model life tables in
the demographic literature is done, calling...attention to the
characteristics and limitations of using such models for constructing
complete life tables. A critical review with relation to the `Brazil
Model' of life tables [is done] and two new models [are] proposed based
on the Brazilian experience of mortality."
Correspondence:
N. A. Paes, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Departamento
de Estatística, Campus Universitário, 58059-900
João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
Studies on the ratio of mortality in different subgroups of a population, classified according to certain criteria, such as sex, social class, occupation, and marital status. Also includes studies on excess mortality and comparative mortality.
64:30192 Balarajan, R.; Soni Raleigh,
Veena. Patterns of mortality among Bangladeshis in England
and Wales. Ethnicity and Health, Vol. 2, No. 1-2, Mar-Jun 1997.
5-12 pp. Abingdon, England. In Eng.
The authors "investigate
the patterns of mortality among Bangladeshis living in England and
Wales.... [They analyze] national mortality data, classified by country
of birth, for the latest period (1988-1992).... The mortality among
Bangladeshi men was significantly higher...than the levels prevalent in
England and Wales. In contrast, the mortality among Bangladeshi women
was significantly lower.... The cancer mortality overall was lower than
expected in both sexes, with the exception of cancer of the liver and
gall bladder. The mortality from breast cancer...and cervical
cancer...was lower than expected."
Correspondence: R.
Balarajan, Saint Bernard's Hospital, National Institute for Ethnic
Studies in Health and Social Policy, Southall, Middlesex UB1 3EU,
England. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30193 Blane, David; Drever,
Frances. Inequality among men in standardised years of
potential life lost, 1970-93. British Medical Journal, Vol. 317,
No. 7153, Jul 25, 1998. 255 pp. London, England. In Eng.
"Information was published last year about the social class
distribution of premature deaths in England and Wales during 1991-3.
[In this one-page article, the authors analyze] these deaths in terms
of standardised years of potential life lost, a measure that takes
account of the age at death as well as death itself. We considered only
men of working age because of the importance of this group to
policy." The results indicate that "deaths from accidents and
violence tend to occur earlier in adulthood than deaths from ischaemic
heart disease and neoplasms; and they occur more often in the manual
working class. Accidents and violence consequently contribute
substantially to the overall health inequalities among men of working
age."
Correspondence: D. Blane, Imperial College
School of Medicine, Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Science,
London W6 8RP, England. E-mail: d.blane@cxwms.ac.uk. Location:
Princeton University Library (SZ).
64:30194 Braun, Kathryn L.; Yang, Haiou;
Onaka, Alvin T.; Horiuchi, Brian Y. Asian and Pacific
Islander mortality differences in Hawaii. Social Biology, Vol. 44,
No. 3-4, Fall-Winter 1997. 213-26 pp. Port Angeles, Washington. In Eng.
"The purpose of this paper is two-fold: (1) to compare
mortality rates of the five major ethnic groups in Hawaii (Caucasians,
Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, and Hawaiians) and (2) to explore
methodological issues related to comparative studies of API [Asian and
Pacific Islander] health indicators.... In general, death rates were
highest for Hawaiians and lowest for Japanese and Chinese illustrating
the importance of API data disaggregation and suggesting that special
attention be paid to improving the health of Hawaiians.
Methodologically, the study demonstrated that, while some compromises
in analysis are required, legitimate comparisons across API groups can
be made if data sets are available."
Correspondence:
K. L. Braun, University of Hawaii, School of Public Health, Center
on Aging, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822. E-mail:
kbraun@hawaii.edu. Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
64:30195 Chenet, Laurent; Leon, David; McKee,
Martin; Vassin, Serguei. Deaths from alcohol and violence
in Moscow: socio-economic determinants. European Journal of
Population/Revue Européenne de Démographie, Vol. 14, No.
1, Mar 1998. 19-37 pp. Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng. with sum. in
Fre.
The authors "examine the association between accidental,
violent and alcohol related adult mortality in the Russian capital and
socio-economic status characteristics such as educational status,
occupational group and marital status.... The probability of death from
alcohol related diseases increased as education level decreased, with
those men failing to complete secondary education over two and a half
times as likely to die from these causes than men with higher
education. Blue collar workers were also much more likely to die from
these causes than white collar workers. Marriage had a marked
protective effect for both men and women."
Correspondence:
L. Chenet, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition, Keppel Street,
London WC1E 7HT, England. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30196 Das Gupta, Monica.
"Missing girls" in China, South Korea and India: causes
and policy implications. Harvard Center for Population and
Development Studies Working Paper Series, No. 98.03, Mar 1998. iv, 19
pp. Harvard University, Center for Population and Development Studies:
Cambridge, Massachusetts. In Eng.
"We examine the phenomenon
of excess female child mortality in China, South Korea and India, where
this has been a striking and long standing problem." Chapters are
included on levels, trends, and patterns in the proportions of girls
"missing"; factors underlying son preference; the experience
of not having a son; consequences of son preference, especially the
marriage squeeze; and policy implications.
Correspondence:
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, 9 Bow
Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail: cpds@hsph.harvard.edu.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30197 Das Gupta, Monica; Li,
Shuzhuo. Gender bias and the "marriage squeeze"
in China, South Korea and India 1920-1990: the effects of war, famine
and fertility decline. Harvard Center for Population and
Development Studies Working Paper Series, No. 97.05, Nov 1997. 24, [8]
pp. Harvard University, Center for Population and Development Studies:
Cambridge, Massachusetts. In Eng.
"We explore how historical
events have influenced the extent of excess female child mortality [in
China, South Korea, and India] during 1920-90, and some of the
substantial social ramifications of changes in the level of
gender-based discrimination. We examine how the level of discrimination
has been affected by events in the wider society which place households
under severe stress.... We also explore how the marriage market has
been affected by the extent of
discrimination...."
Correspondence: Harvard Center for
Population and Development Studies, 9 Bow Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
E-mail: cpds@hsph.harvard.edu. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30198 Davey Smith, George; Hart, Carole;
Watt, Graham; Hole, David; Hawthorne, Victor. Individual
social class, area-based deprivation, cardiovascular disease risk
factors, and mortality: the Renfrew and Paisley study. Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health, Vol. 52, No. 6, Jun 1998. 399-405
pp. London, England. In Eng.
The authors "investigate the
associations of individual and area-based socioeconomic indicators with
cardiovascular disease risk factors and mortality...[in] the towns of
Renfrew and Paisley in the west of Scotland.... Both the area-based
deprivation indicator and individual social class were associated with
generally less favourable profiles of cardiovascular disease risk
factors at the time of the baseline screening examinations....
Independent contributions of area-based deprivation and individual
social class were generally seen with respect to risk factors and
morbidity. All cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates were
both inversely associated with socioeconomic position whether indexed
by area-based deprivation or social class."
Correspondence:
G. Davey Smith, University of Bristol, Department of Social
Medicine, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, England.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30199 Kallan, Jeffrey. Effects
of sociodemographic variables on adult mortality in the United States:
comparisons by sex, age, and cause of death. Social Biology, Vol.
44, No. 1-2, Spring-Summer 1997. 136-47 pp. Port Angeles, Washington.
In Eng.
"The effects of sociodemographic variables on
mortality for U.S. adults are estimated, using data from the National
Health Interview Survey matched with National Death Index data....
Results indicate that all of the sociodemographic variables (education,
income, employment status, marital status, race) have independent
effects on all-cause mortality, with similar-effect sizes for males and
females, and weaker effects in the older group (ages 65+) than the
younger (ages 25-64). For the separate causes of death, the effects of
most sociodemographic variables vary by
sex."
Correspondence: J. Kallan, 206 Gibson Street,
No. 70, Falls Church, VA 22046. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30200 Klasen, Stephan.
Marriage, bargaining, and intrahousehold resource allocation:
excess female mortality among adults during early German development,
1740-1860. Journal of Economic History, Vol. 58, No. 2, Jun 1998.
432-67 pp. New York, New York/Cambridge, England. In Eng.
"This article investigates sex-specific mortality rates in
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century rural Germany to determine whether
there was any gender bias in the allocation of household resources.
Family reconstitution data from 60 villages provide evidence of
considerable excess female mortality among married adults. The
empirical findings are consistent with a bargaining approach to
understanding intrahousehold resource allocation and suggest that
women's survival disadvantage is related to their positions in the
remarriage market, the perceived value of their work, as well as
differences in altruism. Agricultural change appears to be one factor
responsible for the emergence of this
disadvantage."
Correspondence: S. Klasen, University
of Munich, Department of Economics, Schackstraße 4, 80539 Munich,
Germany. E-mail: klasen@lrz.uni-muenchen.de. Location:
Princeton University Library (PF).
64:30201 Kunst, Anton E.; Groenhof, Feikje;
Mackenbach, Johan P. Mortality by occupational class among
men 30-64 years in 11 European countries. Social Science and
Medicine, Vol. 46, No. 11, Jun 1998. 1,459-76 pp. Oxford, England. In
Eng.
"This study compares eleven countries with respect to the
magnitude of mortality differences by occupational class, paying
particular attention to problems with the reliability and comparability
of the data that are available for different countries. Nationally
representative data on mortality by occupational class among men 30-64
years at death were obtained from longitudinal and cross-sectional
studies.... The magnitude of mortality differences was quantified by
three summary indices." Although some differences were found,
"this study underlines the similarities rather than the
dissimilarities between European countries. There is no evidence that
mortality differences are smaller in countries with more egalitarian
socio-economic and other policies."
Correspondence: A.
E. Kunst, Erasmus University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
Department of Public Health, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam,
Netherlands. Location: Princeton University Library (PR).
64:30202 Lantz, Paula M.; House, James S.;
Lepkowski, James M.; Williams, David R.; Mero, Richard P.; Chen,
Jieming. Socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and
mortality: results from a nationally representative prospective study
of U.S. adults. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association,
Vol. 279, No. 21, Jun 3, 1998. 1,703-8 pp. Chicago, Illinois. In Eng.
In order to ascertain whether the higher mortality risk among the
socioeconomically disadvantaged is due to a higher prevalence of health
risk behaviors, the authors "investigate the degree to which 4
behavioral risk factors (cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, sedentary
lifestyle, and relative body weight) explain the observed association
between socioeconomic characteristics and all-cause mortality".
Using data from a nationally representative sample of 3,617 adult women
and men participating in the Americans' Changing Lives survey, the
authors conducted a longitudinal survey to investigate the impact of
education, income, and health behaviors on the risk of dying within the
next 7.5 years. They found that "when health risk behaviors were
considered, the risk of dying was still significantly elevated for the
lowest-income group...and the middle-income group"; they conclude
that "socioeconomic differences in mortality are due to a wider
array of factors and, therefore, would persist even with improved
health behaviors among the disadvantaged."
Correspondence:
P. M. Lantz, University of Michigan, School of Public Health,
Department of Health Management and Policy, 109 Observatory, Ann Arbor,
MI 48109-2029. E-mail: plantz@umich.edu. Location: Princeton
University Library (SZ).
64:30203 Law, M. R.; Morris, J. K.
Why is mortality higher in poorer areas and in more northern areas
of England and Wales? Journal of Epidemiology and Community
Health, Vol. 52, No. 6, Jun 1998. 344-52 pp. London, England. In Eng.
The authors "identify and quantify the factors responsible for
the differences in mortality between affluent and deprived areas, the
north and the south, and urban and rural areas in England and Wales....
All cause mortality was 15% higher in the districts comprising the most
compared with the least deprived tenth of the population, 23% higher in
the most northern...than in the most southern...districts, and 4%
higher in metropolitan (within large cities) than rural districts....
Differences in the prevalence of smoking account for much of the
variation in mortality between areas. Alcohol accounts for some, diet
little."
Correspondence: M. R. Law, Wolfson Institute
of Preventive Medicine, Department of Environmental and Preventive
Medicine, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, England. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30204 Lee, Elisa T.; Cowan, Linda D.;
Welty, Thomas K.; Sievers, Maurice; Howard, William J.; Oopik, Arvo;
Wang, Wenyu; Yeh, Jeunliang; Devereux, Richard B.; Rhoades, Everett R.;
Fabsitz, Richard R.; Go, Oscar; Howard, Barbara V.
All-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality in three
American Indian populations, aged 45-74 years, 1984-1998: the Strong
Heart Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 147, No. 11,
Jun 1, 1998. 995-1,010 pp. Baltimore, Maryland. In Eng.
"Community mortality surveillance for 1984-1988 was conducted
by researchers of the Strong Heart Study, which examined the incidence,
prevalence, and risk factors of cardiovascular disease in three
American Indian populations, aged 45-74 years, in Arizona, Oklahoma,
and South/North Dakota.... When compared with the rates in each state,
average annual all-cause mortality rates were higher for the American
Indian populations in almost every age group.... Cardiovascular disease
mortality rates were close to the U.S. averages in Arizona and
Oklahoma, but they were more than two times higher in South/North
Dakota among those between 45 and 64 years of age." An invited
commentary by Michael P. Stern is included on pp.
1,009-10.
Correspondence: E. T. Lee, University of Oklahoma
Health Sciences Center, College of Public Health, Center for American
Indian Health Research, P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190.
Location: Princeton University Library (SZ).
64:30205 Nikiforov, Sergey V.; Mamaev, Valery
B. The development of sex differences in cardiovascular
disease mortality: a historical perspective. American Journal of
Public Health, Vol. 88, No. 9, Sep 1998. 1,348-53 pp. Washington, D.C.
In Eng.
The authors use some historical data to examine trends in
differential mortality by sex from cardiovascular disease (CVD) over
time. The data are for England and Wales from 1861 to 1992 and for the
United States from 1900 to 1991. "Three stages in the relationship
between male and female CVD mortality were found: (1) An early stage of
equal male and female mortality, (2) a stage of the appearance of sex
differences in mortality, and (3) a stage with consistently present
male excess mortality. [They conclude that] male excess mortality from
CVD has not always been present in the historical record. Further
research is needed to elucidate the causes of this excess
mortality."
Correspondence: S. V. Nikiforov, Systems
Applications International, ICF Kaiser Consulting Group, 101 Lucas
Valley Road, San Rafael, CA 94903-1791. Location: Princeton
University Library (SZ).
64:30206 Peng, Fei. Mortality
differentials and changes in the regions of China during the
1980s. [Disparités et changements de la mortalité
régionale en R.P. de Chine dans les années 1980.] In:
International Population Conference/Congrès International de la
Population: Beijing, 1997, Volume 3. 1997. 1,353-69 pp. International
Union for the Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP]: Liège,
Belgium. In Fre.
A multivariate analysis of recent changes in
mortality in mainland China is presented using data from the 1982 and
1990 censuses. The focus is on regional differentials in mortality and
on regional changes in mortality over time. The results indicate that
levels of mortality increase in a steady fashion from the regions
bordering the coast in the east to the remoter regions situated in the
west of the country. People living in urban areas have the highest life
expectancy and those in the western regions the lowest. The impact of
infant mortality on mortality differentials in general is significant.
Most regions experienced increases in life expectancy over the period
studied, and regions that had the highest levels of mortality in 1982
registered the most improvement in life expectancy over
time.
Correspondence: F. Peng, Université Catholique
de Louvain, Institut de Démographie, 1 place Montesquieu, B.P.
17, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30207 Pinnelli, Antonella; Mancini,
Paola. Gender mortality differences from birth to puberty
in Italy, 1887-1940. In: The decline of infant and child
mortality. The European experience: 1750-1990, edited by Carlo A.
Corisini and Pier P. Viazzo. 1997. 73-93 pp. Martinus Nijhoff:
Dordrecht, Netherlands. In Eng.
The authors analyze differential
mortality trends by sex from infancy to puberty in Italy during the
period 1887-1940. They aim "to reconstruct an important aspect of
living conditions (that is, gender differentials) and provide material
on the hypothesized biological differences." Aspects considered
include gender differences by cause of death and at times of great
historical upheaval.
Correspondence: A. Pinnelli,
Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di
Scienze Demografiche, Via Nomentana 41, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30208 Rychtaríková,
Jitka. Mortality in the Czech republic by family
status. [Úmrtnost v Ceské Republice podle
rodinného stavu.] Demografie, Vol. 40, No. 2, 1998. 93-102 pp.
Prague, Czech Republic. In Cze. with sum. in Eng.
"A
differential mortality study of marital status and medical causes of
death has been made for the period 1982-1993 for the Czech
republic...within two age groups: 15-69 years and 70 or more....
Mortality patterns by marital status have shown stronger differences in
the first (younger) group and for males. Married people most
contributed to the recent decrease in mortality and thus the
inequalities in mortality by marital status have
widened."
Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
64:30209 Shkolnikov, Vladimir M.; Leon, David
A.; Adamets, Sergey; Andreev, Eugeniy; Deev, Alexander.
Educational level and adult mortality in Russia: an analysis of
routine data 1979 to 1994. Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 47,
No. 3, Aug 1998. 357-69 pp. Exeter, England. In Eng.
"The
investigation of socio-economic differences in mortality in Russia was
effectively prohibited in the Soviet period.... Using cross-sectional
data on mortality in Russia around the 1979 and 1989 Censuses, we have
analysed mortality gradients according to length of education. Our
results show that educational differences in mortality are at least as
big as seen in Western countries, and are most similar to the recently
reported differences observed for other former communist countries such
as the Czech Republic, Estonia and Hungary. As observed in many other
countries the strength of association of mortality with education
declines with age, varies by cause of death and is generally stronger
among men than women." The author suggests that the differentials
may be related to educational differences in alcohol consumption and
points out that socioeconomic mortality differences have widened in the
1990s.
Correspondence: V. M. Shkolnikov, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Institute for Economic Forecasting, Center of Demography and
Human Ecology, Leninsky Pr. 14, 117901 Moscow, Russia. Location:
Princeton University Library (PR).
64:30210 Solomon, Caren G.; Manson, JoAnn
E. Obesity and mortality: a review of the epidemiologic
data. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 66, No. 4,
Suppl., 1997. 1,044-50 pp. Bethesda, Maryland. In Eng.
"We
review the literature concerning obesity and mortality [in the United
States], with reference to body fat distribution and weight gain, and
consider potential effects of sex, age, and race on this relation. We
conclude that when appropriate adjustments are made for effects of
smoking and underlying disease, optimal weights are below average in
both men and women; this appears to be true throughout the adult life
span.... Weight gain in adulthood is also associated with increased
mortality."
Correspondence: C. G. Solomon, Brigham and
Women's Hospital, Division of General Medicine, Section for Clinical
Epidemiology, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30211 Trovato, Frank; Lalu, N. M.
Contribution of cause-specific mortality to changing sex
differences in life expectancy: seven nations case study. Social
Biology, Vol. 45, No. 1-2, Spring-Summer 1998. 1-20 pp. Port Angeles,
Washington. In Eng.
"During the last two decades some
industrialized nations witnessed varying degrees of constriction in
their sex gaps in overall life expectancy. We investigate this
development by paying particular attention to the contributions of
major causes of death to the change in the difference between 1970 and
1990. The analysis is based on the experiences of seven nations:
Australia, United States, Sweden, England and Wales, Portugal, Hungary,
and Japan.... We apply decomposition analysis to answer the following
questions: (1) What is the relative contribution of major causes of
death to sex differences in average length of life within broad age
categories? (2) How do the contributions of age and cause of death vary
across time to either widen or narrow the sex gap in survival? (3) How
do the patterns of cause contribution vary across
societies?"
Correspondence: F. Trovato, University of
Alberta, Department of Sociology, Population Research Laboratory,
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4, Canada. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
Studies of demographic relevance on causes of death. Studies of morbidity and of public health measures are included only if they relate specifically to mortality. Also included are maternal mortality and comparisons of causes.
64:30212 Booth, Heather. Pacific
Island suicide in comparative perspective. Working Papers in
Demography, No. 76, 1998. 18 pp. Australian National University,
Research School of Social Sciences, Demography Program: Canberra,
Australia. In Eng.
"This paper provides...a comprehensive
comparative assessment of suicide in the Pacific region.... Levels of
suicide are compared regionally and globally. Age, sex and method of
suicide are examined in detail. The paper provides a regional
perspective, identifying both commonality and
diversity."
Correspondence: Australian National
University, Research School of Social Sciences, Department of
Demography, G.P.O. Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30213 Bradshaw, Benjamin S.; Smith, David
P. Decline of tuberculosis mortality in an urban
Mexican-origin population, 1935-1984. Social Biology, Vol. 44, No.
1-2, Spring-Summer 1997. 25-41 pp. Port Angeles, Washington. In Eng.
"Through a series of life table analyses, this paper describes
the natural history of tuberculosis mortality in a Mexican-origin
[U.S.] community over five decades (1935-84) during which the disease
underwent a transition from a major underlying cause of death to a
disease condition mentioned more often on death certificates as
contributing to death than causing death.... There was a rapid
convergence in age-specific patterns of tuberculosis death rates in
Mexican Americans toward those of non-Hispanic whites, so that by 1960
tuberculosis was primarily a cause of death in old age rather than
young adulthood."
Correspondence: B. S. Bradshaw,
University of Texas School of Public Health, Health Science Center, San
Antonio, TX 78284. Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
64:30214 Caraël, Michel;
Schwartländer, Bernhard. Demographic impact of
AIDS. AIDS, Vol. 12, Suppl., No. 1, 1998. 50 pp. Lippincott-Raven:
London, England. In Eng.
"The papers in this special issue of
AIDS emanated from a meeting jointly organized by the World Bank and
UNAIDS. Held in Washington, D.C., in January 1998, the meeting sought
to stimulate and inform discussion on the demographic impact of
AIDS." Articles in this issue are as follows: Mortality impact of
the AIDS epidemic: evidence from community studies in less developed
countries, by J. Ties Boerma, Andrew J. Nunn, and James A. G.
Whitworth; Impact of the HIV epidemic on mortality in Sub-Saharan
Africa: evidence from national surveys and censuses, by Ian M.
Timæus; Projecting the impact of AIDS on mortality, by John
Stover and Peter Way; and Measuring the impact of HIV on fertility in
Africa, by Basia Zaba and Simon Gregson.
Correspondence:
Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 2-6 Boundary Row, London SE1 8HN,
England. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30215 Carolei, Antonio; Marini, Carmine; Di
Napoli, Mario; Di Gianfilippo, Giacinto; Santalucia, Paola;
Baldassarre, Massimo; De Matteis, Giorgio; di Orio,
Ferdinando. High stroke incidence in the prospective
community-based L'Aquila registry (1994-1998): first year's
results. Stroke, Vol. 28, No. 12, Dec 1997. 2,500-6 pp. Dallas,
Texas. In Eng.
"Changes in stroke incidence are likely to
occur as a consequence of aging of the population, but evidence for
this hypothesis is lacking.... A prospective community-based registry
of first-ever strokes (1994 to 1998)...was established in the L'Aquila
district, central Italy, with a total population of 297, 838.... In
1994, 819 patients...suffered from a first-ever stroke.... In our
population-based study, we found a high stroke incidence notably in the
older age subgroups, suggesting that rather than declining, stroke is
only being postponed until later in life."
Correspondence:
A. Carolei, Università degli Studi di L'Aquila,
Dipartimento di Medicina Interna Sanità Pubblica, Clinica
Neurologica, 67100 L'Aquila-Collemaggio, Italy. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30216 Fernquist, Robert M.; Cutright,
Phillips. Societal integration and age-standardized
suicide rates in 21 developed countries, 1955-1989. Social Science
Research, Vol. 27, No. 2, Jun 1998. 109-27 pp. Orlando, Florida. In
Eng.
"Gender-specific age-standardized suicide rates for 21
developed countries over seven 5-year periods (1955-59...1985-89) form
the two dependent variables. Durkheim's theory of societal integration
is the framework used to generate the independent variables, although
several recent theories are also examined. The results from a MGLS
multiple regression analysis of both male and female rates provide
overwhelming support for a multidimensional theory of societal
integration and suicide, as first suggested by
Durkheim."
Correspondence: P. Cutright, Rte. 1, Box
243C, Saluda, NC 28773. Location: Princeton University Library
(PR).
64:30217 Fillmore, Kaye M.; Golding,
Jacqueline M.; Graves, Karen L.; Kniep, Steven; Leino, E. Victor;
Romelsjo, Anders; Shoemaker, Carlisle; Ager, Catherine R.; Allebeck,
Peter; Ferrer, Heidi P. Alcohol consumption and mortality.
I. Characteristics of drinking groups. Addiction, Vol. 93, No. 2,
Feb 1998. 183-203 pp. Abingdon, England. In Eng.
"This is the
first of a set of three papers evaluating drinking status and mortality
risk [in the United States]. Analyses of multiple studies describe
associations of drinking patterns with characteristics hypothesized to
confound the relationships between drinking status and mortality....
The current paper assesses cross-sectional associations between
drinking patterns and some health, social position, social integration
and mental health characteristics."
Correspondence: K.
M. Fillmore, University of California, Department of Social and
Behavioral Sciences, Box 0646, Laurel Heights, San Francisco, CA
94143-0646. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30218 Fillmore, Kaye M.; Golding,
Jacqueline M.; Graves, Karen L.; Kniep, Steven; Leino, E. Victor;
Romelsjö, Anders; Shoemaker, Carlisle; Ager, Catherine R.;
Allebeck, Peter; Ferrer, Heidi P. Alcohol consumption and
mortality. III. Studies of female populations. Addiction, Vol. 93,
No. 2, Feb 1998. 219-29 pp. Abingdon, England. In Eng.
"This
is the third of a set of three papers evaluating drinking status and
mortality risk. Analysis of three general population surveys of [U.S.]
women evaluated all-cause mortality rates by drinking pattern....
Analyses...were consistent with the hypothesis that abstainers differed
from light drinkers in ways that might account for abstainers' greater
mortality risk. Abstaining women were less likely to be employed and,
when they were employed, had lower-status jobs, had less education,
were more likely to be members of ethnic minority groups, described
their health as worse, [and] were more likely to be obese than light
drinkers...."
Correspondence: K. M. Fillmore,
University of California, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences,
Box 0646, Laurel Heights, San Francisco, CA 94143-0646. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30219 Fingerhut, Lois A.; Ingram, Deborah
D.; Feldman, Jacob J. Homicide rates among U.S. teenagers
and young adults. Differences by mechanism, level of urbanization,
race, and sex, 1987 through 1995. JAMA: Journal of the American
Medical Association, Vol. 280, No. 5, Aug 5, 1998. 423-7 pp. Chicago,
Illinois. In Eng.
"Homicide rates for persons 15 through 24
years old [in the United States] began to decline between 1993 and
1994, but recent trends in homicide rates by mechanism of homicide and
urbanization group have not been described.... [The authors] examine
homicide trends from 1987 through 1995 for persons 15 through 24 years
old by urbanization level." The results indicate that "after
increasing since 1987, firearm and non firearm homicide rates began
declining between 1993 and 1995 among persons 15 through 24 years old.
These declines are taking place across all urbanization strata and
among white and black males and females."
Correspondence:
L. A. Fingerhut, U.S. National Center for Health Statistics,
Office of Analysis, Epidemiology, and Health Promotion, 6525 Belcrest
Road, No. 750, Hyattsville, MD 20782. E-mail: LAF4@cdc.gov.
Location: Princeton University Library (SZ).
64:30220 Fingerhut, Lois A.; Cox, Christine
S. Poisoning mortality, 1985-1995. Public Health
Reports, Vol. 113, No. 3, May-Jun 1998. 218-35 pp. Boston,
Massachusetts. In Eng.
"In this paper, we report on our
analysis of poisoning mortality in the United States in 1995 and trends
in poisoning mortality over the decade from the mid-1980s to the
mid-1990s. We will (a) explain how we have defined poisoning deaths,
(b) summarize age-, sex-, cause-specific, and geographic patterns of
deaths for which poisoning was reported as the underlying cause, (c)
report trends in poisoning mortality for 1985-1995, and (d) discuss why
a thorough understanding of the causes of poisoning mortality must take
account of more than the underlying causes of poisoning deaths." A
commentary by Albert Woodward is included (pp.
234-5).
Correspondence: L. A. Fingerhut, U.S. National
Center for Health Statistics, Room 750, 6525 Belcrest Road,
Hyattsville, MD 20782. E-mail: laf4@cdc.gov. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30221 Fortney, Judith A.
Measurement and levels of maternal mortality. In:
Démographie: analyse et synthèse. Causes et
conséquences des évolutions démographiques, Volume
1. Sep 1997. 85-101 pp. Università degli Studi di Roma La
Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze Demografiche: Rome, Italy; Institut
National d'Etudes Démographiques [INED]: Paris, France;
Université Catholique de Louvain, Institut de
Démographie, Département des Sciences de la Population et
du Développement: Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. In Eng.
"After discussing current definitions of maternal mortality,
this chapter describes measurement issues, means of estimating maternal
mortality, and levels of maternal mortality in the world today and in
the past." Attention is given to the declines in levels of
maternal mortality that have occurred in both the developed and
developing countries, and to their causes.
Correspondence:
J. A. Fortney, Family Health International, One Triangle Drive,
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30222 Gaudette, Leslie A.; Altmayer,
Christopher A.; Wysocki, Marek; Gao, Ru-Nie. Cancer
incidence and mortality across Canada. [L'incidence du cancer et
de la mortalité par cancer au Canada.] Health Reports/Rapports
sur la Santé, Vol. 10, No. 1, Summer 1998. 51-66; 55-68 pp.
Ottawa, Canada. In Eng; Fre.
"This article analyses provincial
and territorial patterns in incidence and mortality rates for selected
cancer sites.... Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were
calculated for Canada and each province/territory for men and women for
major cancer sites for the 1991-1993 period.... Geographic variations
in cancer incidence and mortality rates are strongly influenced by
trends in the four leading cancers: lung, colorectal, prostate and
breast.... These patterns generally reflect provincial/territorial
variations in smoking prevalence, dietary habits, and the extent of
cancer control programs, such as
screening."
Correspondence: L. A. Gaudette, Statistics
Canada, Health Statistics Division, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0T6, Canada.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30223 Grønbæk, M.
Wine and mortality. BioFactors, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1997. 377-83
pp. Amsterdam, Netherlands. In Eng.
"In the present chapter
the question of possible different effects of beer, wine and spirits in
data from the Copenhagen City Heart Study will be addressed.... The
results...strongly suggest that, in addition to the common effect of
ethanol, there are--within the studied range of drinking--different
factors influencing health in the three types of beverages.... [We
find] that only wine drinking clearly reduces both risk of dying from
cardio- and cerebrovascular disease, and risk of dying from other
causes...."
Correspondence: M. Grønbæk,
Copenhagen University Hospital, Danish Epidemiology Science Center,
Institute of Preventive Medicine, 1399 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30224 Immonen-Räihä, Pirjo;
Mähönen, Markku; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Salomaa, Veikko;
Kaarsalo, Esko; Narva, Erkki V.; Salmi, Kalervo; Sarti, Cinzia;
Sivenius, Juhani; Alhainen, Kari; Torppa, Jorma. Trends in
case-fatality of stroke in Finland during 1983 to 1992. Stroke,
Vol. 28, No. 12, Dec 1997. 2,493-9 pp. Dallas, Texas. In Eng.
"Stroke mortality has been declining in Finland during the
past 20 years. It is not known, however, whether this favorable
development is attributable to the decline in the incidence or
case-fatality of stroke. For this reason we examine the trends in
case-fatality of stroke, including trends by subtype of stroke.... The
28-day case-fatality of stroke fell yearly by 3.6%...in men and by
2.6%...in women. At the end of the study period, the average 28-day
case-fatality of all strokes was 20% in men and 21% in women.
Considerable differences by subtype of stroke were
observed."
Correspondence: P. Immonen-Räihä,
City of Turku Health Office, Health and Stroke Center, P.O. Box 11,
20701, Turku, Finland. E-mail: pirjo.immonen-raiha@turku.fi.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30225 Kallan, Jeffrey E. Drug
abuse-related mortality in the United States: patterns and
correlates. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Vol. 24,
No. 1, 1998. 103-17 pp. New York, New York. In Eng.
"This
study examines the sociodemographic determinants of psychoactive
drug-related mortality in the United States, using data from the
National Health Interview Survey (1987-1990 combined) linked with
National Death Index data (deaths through 1991). Proportional hazards
models are used to estimate the gross and net effects of age, sex,
race, marital status, education, income, employment status, and health
status on the risk of drug-related mortality. Results show that age,
sex, and race (the main breakdowns in previous studies), as well as
marital status, income, and health status have significant net effects
on the risk of drug-related mortality."
Correspondence:
J. E. Kallan, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Population Division,
Washington, D.C. 20233. Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
64:30226 Kelsall, J. E.; Samet, J. M.; Zeger,
S. L.; Xu, J. Air pollution and mortality in Philadelphia,
1974-1988. American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 146, No. 9, Nov
1, 1997. 750-62 pp. Baltimore, Maryland. In Eng.
Data from various
studies on the association between air pollution and mortality in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, undertaken in the period 1974-1988 are used
in a new analysis in which the authors attempt to control for the
effects of temporal factors, weather, and other pollutants in order to
estimate the independent effect of total suspended particles (TSP) on
mortality. The results confirm the association between TSP and
mortality found in previous studies in Philadelphia and show that the
association is robust to consideration of other
pollutants.
Correspondence: J. M. Samet, Johns Hopkins
University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Department of
Epidemiology, 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Location: Princeton University Library (SZ).
64:30227 Krug, E. G.; Powell, K. E.; Dahlberg,
L. L. Firearm-related deaths in the United States and 35
other high- and upper-middle-income countries. International
Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 27, No. 2, Apr 1998. 214-21 pp. Oxford,
England. In Eng.
"We compared the incidence of firearm-related
deaths among 36 countries.... During the one-year study period, 88,649
firearm deaths were reported. Overall firearm mortality rates are five
to six times higher in HI and UMI [high-income and upper-middle-income]
countries in the Americas (12.72) than in Europe (2.17), or Oceania
(2.57) and 95 times higher than in Asia (0.13). The rate of firearm
deaths in the United States (14.24 per 100,000) exceeds that of its
economic counterparts (1.76) eightfold and that of UMI countries (9.69)
by a factor of 1.5."
Correspondence: E. G. Krug,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Mailstop K60,
4770 Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA 30341. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
64:30228 Lachs, Mark S.; Williams, Christianna
S.; O'Brien, Shelley; Pillemer, Karl A.; Charlson, Mary E.
The mortality of elder mistreatment. JAMA: Journal of the
American Medical Association, Vol. 280, No. 5, Aug 5, 1998. 428-32 pp.
Chicago, Illinois. In Eng.
"Although elder mistreatment is
suspected to be life threatening in some instances, little is known
about the survival of elderly persons who have been mistreated.... [The
authors] estimate the independent contribution of reported elder abuse
and neglect to all-cause mortality in an observational cohort of
community-dwelling older adults [in the United States].... [Data were
from] The New Haven Established Population for Epidemiologic Studies in
the Elderly cohort, which included 2,812 community-dwelling adults who
were older than 65 years in 1982, a subset of whom were referred to
protective services for the elderly.... [The results indicate that]
reported and corroborated elder mistreatment and self-neglect are
associated with shorter survival after adjusting for other factors
associated with increased mortality in older
adults."
Correspondence: M. S. Lachs, New York
Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, Division of Geriatrics and
Gerontology, 525 East 68th Street, Box 46, New York, NY 10021.
Location: Princeton University Library (SZ).
64:30229 Leino, E. Victor; Romelsjö,
Anders; Shoemaker, Carlisle; Ager, Catherine R.; Allebeck, Peter;
Ferrer, Heidi P.; Fillmore, Kaye M.; Golding, Jacqueline M.; Graves,
Karen L.; Kniep, Steven. Alcohol consumption and
mortality. II. Studies of male populations. Addiction, Vol. 93,
No. 2, Feb 1998. 205-18 pp. Abingdon, England. In Eng.
"This
is the second of a set of three papers evaluating drinking status and
mortality risk. Analysis of eight general population surveys of [U.S.]
men evaluated all-cause mortality rates by drinking pattern.... The
analyses (a) evaluate alternative definitions of drinking patterns...;
(b) conduct separate analyses for male youth...and adults...; (c)
separate long-term abstainers from former drinkers...; (d) control for
characteristics believed to confound associations of drinking patterns
with mortality risk...; and (e) conduct independent analyses by study
as well as synthesize results to determine the degree to which the
results replicate."
Correspondence: E. V. Leino,
University of California, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences,
Box 0646, Laurel Heights, San Francisco, CA 94143-0646. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30230 Mäkelä, Pia; Valkonen,
Tapani; Poikolainen, Kari. Estimated numbers of deaths
from coronary heart disease "caused" and
"prevented" by alcohol: an example from Finland. Journal
of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 58, No. 5, Sep 1997. 455-63 pp. Piscataway,
New Jersey. In Eng.
"Epidemiological studies show that
moderate alcohol consumption rather than abstention is associated with
a lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. Our objective
was to adjust established methods for calculating attributable
fractions to a situation where the risk function is J-shaped and to
estimate the number of CHD deaths `caused' and `prevented' by alcohol
in Finland.... Our best estimates suggest that approximately one-tenth
of the observed number of CHD deaths among middle-aged men in Finland
is `prevented' by alcohol, while the relative effect is considerably
smaller among older men and all women."
Correspondence:
P. Mäkelä, University of Helsinki, Department of
Sociology, Population Research Unit, P.O. Box 18 (Unioninkatu 35),
00014 Helsinki, Finland. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30231 Mannino, David M.; Ford, Earl;
Giovino, Gary A.; Thun, Michael. Lung cancer deaths in the
United States from 1979 to 1992: an analysis using multiple-cause
mortality data. International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 27,
No. 2, Apr 1998. 159-66 pp. Oxford, England. In Eng.
"We
sought to describe trends in the presence of lung cancer at the time of
death in the United States from 1979 to 1992.... We analysed death
certificate reports in the Multiple-Cause Mortality Files compiled by
the National Center for Health Statistics.... Of the 29,042,213
decedents in the study period, 1,892,129 (6.5%) had a diagnosis of lung
cancer listed on their death certificates; of these 1,892,129
decedents, 1,734,767 (91.7%) had lung cancer listed as the underlying
cause of death. Decedents with lung cancer listed as being present but
not the underlying cause of death were more likely to be male...and
older..., but less likely to be black than
white...."
Correspondence: D. M. Mannino, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental
Health, 4770 Buford Highway, M/S F-39, Atlanta, GA 30341. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30232 Mcisaac, Sandra J.; Wilkinson,
Richard G. Income distribution and cause-specific
mortality. European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 7, No. 1, Mar
1997. 45-53 pp. Oxford, England. In Eng.
"The aim was to
identify the age-, sex- and cause-specific premature mortality rates
contributing to the association between life expectancy and income
distribution in developed countries. Income distribution was calculated
for the 13 OECD countries and years for which the Luxembourg Income
Study held data.... A more egalitarian distribution of income was
related to lower all-cause mortality rates in both sexes in most age
groups.... Income distribution was associated not only with larger
absolute changes in mortality from these causes, but also with larger
proportionate changes."
Correspondence: R. G.
Wilkinson, University of Sussex, Trafford Centre for Medical Research,
Brighton BN1 9RY, England. Location: New York University,
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York, NY.
64:30233 Midhet, Farid; Becker, Stan;
Berendes, Heinz W. Contextual determinants of maternal
mortality in rural Pakistan. Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 46,
No. 12, Jun 1998. 1,587-98 pp. Oxford, England. In Eng.
The authors
"investigated the risk factors associated with maternal mortality
in sixteen rural districts of Balochistan and the North-West Frontier
(NWFP) provinces of Pakistan. [They] designed a nested case-control
study comprising 261 cases (maternal deaths reported during [the] last
five years) and 9,135 controls (women who survived a pregnancy during
[the] last five years). Using contextual analysis, [they] estimated the
interactions between the biological risk factors of maternal mortality
and the district-level indicators of health services. Women under 19 or
over 39 [years] of age, those having their first birth, and those
having a previous history of fetal loss were at greater risk of
maternal death. Staffing patterns of peripheral health facilities in
the district and accessibility of essential obstetric care (EOC) were
significantly associated with maternal
mortality."
Correspondence: F. Midhet, National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 6100 Executive
Boulevard, Room 7B05, Bethesda, MD 20892. Location: Princeton
University Library (PR).
64:30234 Nizard, Alfred; Bourgoin, Nicolas; de
Divonne, Geneviève. Suicide and social
malaise. [Suicide at mal-être social.] Population et
Sociétés, No. 334, Apr 1998. 4 pp. Institut National
d'Etudes Démographiques [INED]: Paris, France. In Fre.
An
analysis of recent trends in suicide in France is presented using
official data. Particular attention is given to the relations between
suicide and alcohol consumption, the breakdown of family ties,
unemployment, and suicide among young adults.
Correspondence:
Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, 133 boulevard
Davout, 75980 Paris Cedex 20, France. E-mail: ined@ined.fr.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30235 Obiri, Godwin U.; Fordyce, E. James;
Singh, Tejinder P.; Forlenza, Susan. Effect of HIV/AIDS
versus other causes of death on premature mortality in New York City,
1983-1994. American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 147, No. 9, May
1998. 840-5 pp. Baltimore, Maryland. In Eng.
"This study
examined years of potential life lost (YPLL) before age 65 years to
assess the relative impact of human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) versus other leading
causes of death on premature mortality in New York City, New York,
between 1983 and 1994. Most causes of death showed substantial
year-to-year variation in YPLL, with the exception of HIV/AIDS. The
YPLL attributed to HIV/AIDS increased monotonically from 11,866 in 1983
to 167,317 in 1994, a nearly 15-fold increase. The rank order of the
relative contribution of HIV/AIDS to total YPLL changed from the eighth
leading cause of death to the leading cause. YPLL from heart disease,
which ranked second in 1983, declined to fourth in 1994, homicide was
unchanged, and chronic liver disease declined from fifth to ninth rank.
The annual YPLL attributed to malignant neoplasms was similar to that
for heart disease, but peaked in 1984, and the reduction over the
subsequent decade was about 13%. Total YPLL was 78% greater among males
than among females in 1983 and was nearly twice as high in
1994."
Correspondence: G. U. Obiri, New York City
Department of Health, Office of AIDS Surveillance, 125 Worth Street,
P.O. Box 44, New York, NY 10013. Location: Princeton
University Library (SZ).
64:30236 Okolocha, Chike; Chiwuzie, Jasper;
Braimoh, Suleiman; Unuigbe, Jacob; Olumeko, Patience.
Socio-cultural factors in maternal morbidity and mortality: a study
of a semi-urban community in southern Nigeria. Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health, Vol. 52, No. 5, May 1998. 293-7 pp.
London, England. In Eng.
The authors investigate "community
based or socio-cultural factors that determine maternal morbidity and
mortality in a semi-urban setting...in central part of Edo state in
southern Nigeria.... There is a fairly good knowledge of haemorrhage
but this is circumscribed by attitudes, practices, and situations that
keep women away from or delay the decision to seek modern obstetric
care."
Correspondence: C. Okolocha, University of
Benin, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, PMB 1154, Benin City,
Nigeria. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30237 Oldfield, Katherine; Milne, Ruairidh;
Vessey, Martin. The effects on mortality of the use of
combined oral contraceptives. British Journal of Family Planning,
Vol. 24, No. 1, Apr 1998. 2-6 pp. London, England. In Eng.
The
authors "assess, using a computerised model, the effects on
mortality of the use of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) [using] two
hypothetical cohorts of one million women each, identical except for
their use of contraception.... Based on the standard pattern of use,
there were 1.7 per cent more deaths in the COC cohort to age 50. The
important effects on mortality of different patterns of use and of
different assumptions about risks in ex-users were
illustrated."
Correspondence: K. Oldfield, University
of Southampton, Wessex Institute for Health Research and Development,
Southampton S016 7PX, England. Location: Princeton University
Library (SPR).
64:30238 Stepukonis, Faustas. The
development of suicides in the Scandinavian and the post-Soviet Baltic
countries in a postindustrial-country context. Yearbook of
Population Research in Finland, Vol. 34, 1997. 35-46 pp. Helsinki,
Finland. In Eng.
"A review of developmental trends in the
suicide rate in the Baltic region and the OECD countries from the 1960s
until the present is the focus of this article.... It is argued that
the post-Soviet Baltic and Scandinavian model of suicide development
can be explained by Durkheim's classical suicide theory. However,
explaining the postindustrial type of suicide tendencies requires
acceptance of a long-lasting anomie model for the prediction of suicide
rates.... The conclusion is that there are preconditions and empirical
evidence for predicting the process of a declining suicide rate in the
groups of the countries investigated."
Correspondence:
F. Stepukonis, Klaipeda University, Department of Social Sciences,
Klaipeda, Lithuania. Location: Princeton University Library
(SPR).
64:30239 Stockwell, Edward G.; Goza, Franklin
W.; Luse, Verl O. Infectious disease mortality among
adults by race and socioeconomic status: metropolitan Ohio,
1989-1991. Social Biology, Vol. 44, No. 1-2, Spring-Summer 1997.
148-52 pp. Port Angeles, Washington. In Eng.
"The data
presented here are part of an on-going longitudinal study of the
relationship between socioeconomic status and [infectious disease]
mortality in the major metropolitan centers of Ohio. Using a
Standardized Mortality Ratio, we find that mortality in the seven-city
urban aggregate exceeds that of the rest of the state by 39 per cent
for the nonwhite population and only 1 per cent for the white
population. Further, for the nonwhite population, living in a high
income area has no discernible health benefit for nonwhites as compared
to whites. On the other hand, for the AIDS virus, there is a clear
inverse association between economic status, and mortality from
AIDS."
Correspondence: E. G. Stockwell, Bowling Green
State University, Department of Sociology, Bowling Green, OH
43403-0231. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
64:30240 Vartiainen, Erkki; Pekkanen, Juha;
Koskinen, Seppo; Jousilahti, Pekka; Salomaa, Veikko; Puska,
Pekka. Do changes in cardiovascular risk factors explain
the increasing socioeconomic difference in mortality from ischaemic
heart disease in Finland? Journal of Epidemiology and Community
Health, Vol. 52, No. 7, Jul 1998. 416-9 pp. London, England. In Eng.
The objective of this study is "to estimate the extent to
which changes in blood pressure, smoking, and serum cholesterol
concentration explain the observed increase in socioeconomic
differences in mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in Finland
during the past 20 years.... Predicted changes in mortality from IHD
were calculated using logistic regression models with the risk factor
levels assessed by cross sectional population surveys conducted in
1972, 1977, 1982, and 1987." The study analyzes data on a total of
16,741 men and 16,389 women aged 30-59. The authors conclude that
"less than half of the decline in IHD mortality among white collar
men was explained by the risk factor changes, while they explained 75%
of the decline among blue collar men and 89% of the decline among male
farmers. Changes in risk factors did not explain the increasing
difference in IHD mortality between the socioeconomic groups,
especially among men."
Correspondence: E. Vartiainen,
National Public Health Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Health
Promotion, Mannerheimintie 166, 00300 Helsinki, Finland. Location:
Princeton University Library (SPR).
