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Women's death in Scandinavia — what makes Denmark different?

  • Mortality
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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej, DK-2200, Denmark

    Rune Jacobsen, My Von Euler, Merete Osler, Elsebeth Lynge & Niels Keiding

Authors
  1. Rune Jacobsen
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  2. My Von Euler
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  3. Merete Osler
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  4. Elsebeth Lynge
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  5. Niels Keiding
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Correspondence to Rune Jacobsen.

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Jacobsen, R., Von Euler, M., Osler, M. et al. Women's death in Scandinavia — what makes Denmark different?. Eur J Epidemiol 19, 117–121 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EJEP.0000017834.35943.bd

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EJEP.0000017834.35943.bd

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