scholarly journals Narrowing sex differences in life expectancy: regional variations, 1971-1991

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Trovato ◽  
N. M. Lalu

A number of industrialized nations have recently experienced some degrees of constriction in their long-standing sex differentials in life expectancy at birth. In this study we examine this phenomenon in the context of Canada’s regions between 1971 and 1991: Atlantic (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island); Quebec, Ontario, and the West (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories). Decomposition analysis based on multiple decrement life tables is applied to address three questions: (1) Are there regional differentials in the degree of narrowing in the sex gap in life expectancy? (2) What is the relative contribution of major causes of death to observed sex differences in average length of life within and across regions? (3) How do the contributions of cause-of-death components vary across regions to either widen or narrow the sex gap in survival? It is shown that the magnitude of the sex gap is not uniform across the regions, though the differences are not large. The most important contributors to a narrowing of the sex gap in life expectancy are heart disease and external types of mortality (i.e., accidents, violence, and suicide), followed by lung cancer and other types of chronic conditions. In substantive terms these results indicate that over time men have been making sufficient gains in these causes of death as to narrow some of the gender gap in overall survival. Regions show similarity in these effects.

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 835-841
Author(s):  
Fanny Janssen

Abstract This article provides a detailed and overarching illustration of the contribution of smoking to sex differences in life expectancy at birth (e0) in Europe, focusing on changes over time and differences between both European countries and European regions. For this purpose, the sex difference in e0 for 31 European countries over the 1950–2014 period was decomposed into a smoking- and a non-smoking-related part, using all-cause mortality data and indirectly estimated smoking-attributable mortality rates by age and sex, and a formal decomposition analysis. It was found that smoking-attributable mortality contributed, on average, 3 years (43.5%) to the 7-year life expectancy difference between women and men in 2014. This contribution, was largest in 1995, at 5.2 out of 9.0 years, and subsequently declined in parallel with the average sex difference in life expectancy. The average contribution of smoking-attributable mortality was especially large in North-Western Europe around 1975; in Southern Europe around 1985; and in Eastern Europe around 1990–1995, when smoking-attributable mortality reached maximum levels among men, but was still low among women. The observed parallel decline from 1995 onwards in the sex differences in e0 and the absolute contribution of smoking to this sex difference suggests that this recent decline in the sex difference in e0 can be almost fully explained by historical changes in sex differences in smoking, and, consequently, smoking-attributable mortality. In line with the progression of the smoking epidemic, the sex differences in life expectancy in Europe are expected to further decline in the future.


Author(s):  
Akansha Singh ◽  
Laishram Ladusingh

This study aims to examine the sex differentials in life expectancy at birth and life disparity, and to estimate the age-specific contribution of the differences for India and its major states. Life dispari-ty measures the variation in the distribution of deaths, and life expectancy at birth measures the average length of life. Complete life tables generated from death rates and abridged life tables of the Sample Reg-istration System in India from 1970–1975 to 2006–2010 were used to fulfill the research goals. Stepwise replacement algorithm was used for the decomposition of sex differences in life expectancy at birth and in life disparity. The results indicate that the increase in life expectancy at birth and decline in life disparity was higher for females. The sex differential was more prominent in urban areas than in rural areas. A ma-jority of the states in India experienced changes in the direction and magnitude of sex differentials in life expectancy at birth and life disparity from 1970–1975 to 2006–2010. The sex differentials in life expec-tancy at birth and life disparity in 1970–1975 were primarily attributed to child mortality, whereas the sex differentials in recent decades were attributed to adult mortality.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0244380
Author(s):  
Taejae Kim ◽  
Jinwook Bahk ◽  
Hwa Kyung Lim ◽  
Young-Ho Khang

According to the most recent annual report released by Korea Statistics, the life expectancy at birth (for both sexes) in 2018 was 82.7 years, an increase of 0.0 years over 2017, reflecting the first stagnation in life expectancy since 1960. In this study, a time-series analysis was conducted of trends in life expectancy from 2003 to 2018, and causes of death were analyzed using the Kannisto-Thatcher method and the Arriaga decomposition method. The time trend analysis of yearly life expectancy changes indicated that, in Korea, there was a tendency for the yearly increase in life expectancy between 2003 and 2018 to decrease by 0.0211 years per calendar year. The contribution of cardiovascular diseases, the most important contributor to the life expectancy increase in Korea, gradually decreased over this period. The contribution of cardiovascular diseases to the life expectancy increase was 0.506 years in 2003–2006, but this contribution decreased to 0.218 years in 2015–2018. The positive contributions of ill-defined causes and external causes to life expectancy increase detected in previous periods were not evident in 2015–2018. Diseases of the respiratory system made the largest negative contribution both between 2015 and 2018 and between 2017–2018. The life expectancy stagnation in 2018 could be understood as the combined effect of (a) decreasing momentum in the increase of life expectancy and (b) a chance event in 2018 involving life expectancy. Currently, it is difficult to judge whether the stagnation of life expectancy in 2018 is temporary, and further analyses of life expectancy and contributing causes of death in the future are needed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1712-1718
Author(s):  
Vladimir Canudas-Romo ◽  
Tim Adair ◽  
Stefano Mazzuco

Abstract Life expectancy is most commonly measured for a period (corresponding to mortality within a given year) or for a specific birth cohort. Although widely used, period and cohort life expectancy have limitations as their time-trends often show disparities and can mask the historical mortality experience of all cohorts present at a given time. The truncated cross-sectional average length of life, or TCAL, is a period measure including all available cohort mortality information, irrespective of whether all cohort members have died. It is particularly useful for comparing cohort mortality between populations. This study extends TCAL by disentangling causes of death contributions. The strength of the approach is that it allows identification of mortality differences in cohorts with members still alive, as well as identification of which ages and causes of death contribute to mortality differentials between populations. Application of the method to Japan shows that over the period 1950–2014 a major contributor to TCAL differences with other high-longevity countries was its lower cardiovascular disease mortality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Myunggu Jung ◽  
Gizachew Balew Jembere ◽  
Young Su Park ◽  
William Muhwava ◽  
Yeohee Choi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Ethiopia has experienced great improvements in life expectancy (LE) at birth over the last three decades. Despite consistent increases in LE for both males and females in Ethiopia, the country has simultaneously witnessed an increasing discrepancy in LE between males and females. Methods This study used Pollard’s actuarial method of decomposing LE to compare age- and cause- specific contributions to changes in sex differences in LE between 1995 and 2015 in Ethiopia. Results Life expectancy at birth in Ethiopia increased for both males and females from 48.28 years and 50.12 years in 1995 to 65.59 years and 69.11 years in 2015, respectively. However, the sex differences in LE at birth also increased from 1.85 years in 1995 to 3.51 years in 2015. Decomposition analysis shows that the higher male mortality was consistently due to injuries and respiratory infections, which contributed to 1.57 out of 1.85 years in 1995 and 1.62 out of 3.51 years in 2015 of the sex differences in LE. Increased male mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) also contributed to the increased difference in LE between males and females over the period, accounting for 0.21 out of 1.85 years and 1.05 out of 3.51 years in 1995 and 2015, respectively. Conclusions While injuries and respiratory infections causing male mortality were the most consistent causes of the sex differences in LE in Ethiopia, morality from NCDs is the main cause of the recent increasing differences in LE between males and females. However, unlike the higher exposure of males to death from injuries due to road traffic injuries or interpersonal violence, to what extent sex differences are caused by the higher male mortality compared to female mortality from respiratory infection diseases is unclear. Similarly, despite Ethiopia’s weak social security system, an explanation for the increased sex differences after the age of 40 years due to either longer female LE or reduced male LE should be further investigated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
N Nante ◽  
L Kundisova ◽  
F Gori ◽  
A Martini ◽  
F Battisti ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Changing of life expectancy at birth (LE) over time reflects variations of mortality rates of a certain population. Italy is amongst the countries with the highest LE, Tuscany ranks fifth at the national level. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the impact of various causes of death in different age groups on the change in LE in the Tuscany region (Italy) during period 1987-2015. Material and methods Mortality data relative to residents that died during the period between 1987/1989 and 2013/2015 were provided by the Tuscan Regional Mortality Registry. The causes of death taken into consideration were cardiovascular (CVS), respiratory (RESP) and infective (INF) diseases and cancer (TUM). The decomposition of LE gain was realized with software Epidat, using the Pollard’s method. Results The overall LE gain during the period between two three-years periods was 6.7 years for males, with a major gain between 65-89, and 4.5 years for females, mainly improved between 75-89, <1 year for both sexes. The major gain (2.6 years) was attributable to the reduction of mortality for CVS, followed by TUM (1.76 in males and 0.83 in females) and RESP (0.4 in males; 0.1 in females). The major loss of years of LE was attributable to INF (-0.15 in females; -0.07 in males) and lung cancer in females (-0.13), for which the opposite result was observed for males (gain of 0.62 years of LE). Conclusions During the study period (1987-2015) the gain in LE was major for males. To the reduction of mortality for CVS have contributed to the tempestuous treatment of acute CVS events and secondary CVS prevention. For TUM the result is attributable to the adherence of population to oncologic screening programmes. The excess of mortality for INF that lead to the loss of LE can be attributed to the passage from ICD-9 to ICD-10 in 2003 (higher sensibility of ICD-10) and to the diffusion of multi-drug resistant bacteria, which lead to elevated mortality in these years. Key messages The gain in LE during the period the 1987-2015 was higher in males. The major contribution to gain in LE was due to a reduction of mortality for CVS diseases.


2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANK TROVATO ◽  
NILS B. HEYEN

Over the course of the 20th century the sex differential in life expectancy at birth in the industrialized countries has widened considerably in favour of women. Starting in the early 1970s, the beginning of a reversal in the long-term pattern of this differential has been noted in some high-income countries. This study documents a sustained pattern of narrowing of this measure into the later part of the 1990s for six of the populations that comprise the G7 countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, England and Wales (as representative of the United Kingdom) and USA. For Japan, a persistence of widening sex differences in survival is noted. The sex differences in life expectancy are decomposed over roughly three decades (early 1970s to late 1990s) from the point of view of four major cause-of-death categories: circulatory diseases, cancers, accidents/violence/suicide, and ‘other’ (residual) causes. In the six countries where the sex gap has narrowed, this has resulted primarily from reduced sex differences in circulatory disease mortality, and secondarily from reduced differences in male and female death rates due to accidents, violence and suicide combined. In some of the countries sex differentials in cancer mortality have been converging lately, and this has also contributed to a narrowing of the difference in life expectancy. In Japan, males have been less successful in reducing their survival disadvantage in relation to Japanese women with regard to circulatory disease and cancer; and in the case of accidents/violence/suicide, male death rates increased during the 1990s. These trends explain the divergent pattern of the sex difference in life expectation in Japan as compared with the other G7 nations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANK TROVATO ◽  
DAVID ODYNAK

SummaryA growing body of research often indicates that immigrant populations in Western countries enjoy a lower level of mortality in relation to their native-born host populations. In this literature, sex differences in mortality are often reported but substantive analyses of the differences are generally lacking. The present investigation looks at sex differences in life expectancy with specific reference to immigrant and Canadian-born populations in Canada during 1971 and 2001. For these two populations, sex differences in expectation of life at birth are decomposed into cause-of-death components. Immigrants in Canada have a higher life expectancy than their Canadian-born counterparts. In absolute terms, immigrant females enjoy the highest life expectancy. Inrelativeterms, however, immigrant men show a larger longevity advantage, as their expectation of life at birth exceeds that of Canadian-born men by a wider margin than do foreign-born females in relation to Canadian-born females. It is also found that immigrants have a smaller sex differential in life expectancy as compared with the Canadian born. Decomposition analysis shows this is a function of immigrants having smaller sex differences in death rates from heart disease and cancer. Factors thought to underlie these differentials between immigrants and the Canadian born are discussed and suggestions for further research are given.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanyi Chen ◽  
Yi Zhou ◽  
Lianghong Sun ◽  
Yichen Chen ◽  
Xiaobin Qu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background To address change in gender gap of life expectancy (GGLE) in Shanghai from 1973 to 2018, and to identify the major causes of death and age groups associated with the change overtime.Methods Retrospective demographic analysis with application of Joinpoint regression to evaluate the temporal trend in GGLE. Causes of death were coded in accordance with International Classification of Diseases and mapped with the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) cause list. Life table technique and decomposition method was used to express changes in GGLE.Results Trend of GGLE in Shanghai experienced two phases ie., a decrease from 8.4 to 4.2 years in the descent phase (1973-1999) and a fluctuation between 4.0 and 4.9 years in the plateau phase (1999-2018). The reduced age-specific mortality rates tended to concentrate to a narrower age range, from age 0-9 and above 30 years in the descent phase to age above 55 years in the plateau phase. Gastroesophageal and liver cancer, communicable, chronic respiratory and digestive diseases were once the major contributors to narrow GGLE in the descent phase. While importance should be attached to a widening effect on GGLE by lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, other neoplasms like colorectal and pancreatic cancer and diabetes in recent plateau phase.Conclusions Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have made GGLE enter a plateau phase from a descent phase in Shanghai China. Public efforts to reduce excess mortalities for male NCDs, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes in particular and health policies focused on the middle-aged and elderly population might further narrow GGLE and ensure improvement in health and health equity in Shanghai China.


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