Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare the mortality for women in Sweden, Norway and Denmark in order to search for clues for the low life expectancy of Danish women. METHODS: Prospective age-period-cohort study covering 40 years for all Swedish, Norwegian and Danish women aged 40-84 during the period 1960-2000, and born 1900-1950. OUTCOME MEASURES: Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for deaths. RESULTS: The high risk of dying among Danish women was associated with being born between the two World Wars, and that a similar pattern was not found for women in Norway and Sweden. A tendency of a cohort effect was observed for Swedish women born around 1940. CONCLUSIONS: The currently low life expectancy of Danish women compared with that of women in Norway and Sweden is partly a transitional phenomenon caused by excessive death rates for women born between the two World Wars. Data on smoking prevalence by birth cohort and age indicate that a high percentage of Danish women in these cohorts were smokers throughout their adult life.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | European Journal of Epidemiology |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 117-21 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| ISSN | 0393-2990 |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 |