International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages: Dimensions and Sources

Excerpt

Clearly, there is a need to continue to conduct research to better understand the factors underlying international differences in life expectancy at older ages. For the most part, the papers in this volume focus on the behavioral factors that are commonly believed to contribute to those differences. Because of the interaction and the multiple causal pathways between these various factors (e.g., obesity can lead to lack of physical exercise and poor health but poor health can also lead to lack of physical exercise and obesity), the exact amount that each factor contributes to the observed health differentials remains unknown. Yet one finding seems clear: having the highest level of cigarette consumption per capita in the developed world over a 40-year period (up to the mid-1980s) has left a very visible and continuing imprint on U.S. mortality.