Adult Mortality In Developed Countries

Sick adults consume often more than half of all resources allocated to the health sector. This volume draws attention to the causes and results of disease and ill health in adults in developing countries and to the burden they impose not only on individuals but on their families and society as well. Researchers and policymakers will find this work essential because of its useful data on adult morbidity and mortality, as well as its call for more information on problems and risk factors.

This handbook presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of unprecedented substantive, theoretical, methodological, and statistical developments and insights, and an in-depth examination of trends and patterns, in adult mortality around the world. With over two dozen chapters and more than 50 authors, this volume draws from top international mortality experts to provide one of the best overviews of life expectancy extant. The book documents remarkable gains in life expectancy, which stand out as one of the most important accomplishments of the twentieth century. Individuals in more developed countries can expect to live longer now than ever before, especially the Japanese who enjoy record-setting life expectancies. The book also explores unfortunate declines in life expectancy in selected countries brought on by such factors as infectious diseases; accidents, suicides, and homicides; and political and economic conflict and turmoil. This book synthesizes the wealth of mortality information available, clearly articulates the central findings to-date, identifies the most appropriate datasets and methods currently available, illuminates the central research questions, and develops an agenda to address these research questions. The authors carefully examine central factors related to mortality, including health behaviors, socioeconomic status, social relations, biomarkers, and genetic factors. The book will prove especially relevant to researchers, students, and policy makers within social and health sciences who want to better understand international trends and patterns in adult mortality.

Little is known about the causes of adult deaths in most developing countries. The authors recommend developing and validating diagnostic algorithms to determine the causes of adult deaths, using lay interviewers to conduct retrospective interviews of relatives of the deceased.

This is followed by a series of chapters which focus on the causes and extent of differentials in adult mortality, paying particular attention to sex, region of residence, and socio-economic status. The final section of the book draws heavily on the North American experience to consider some of the policy and programme implications necessary to reduce preventable adult mortality levels further - including government policies to control smoking and alcohol abuse, and to promote healthful behaviour patterns.

Premature death in adulthood is an increasingly important public health issue in Latin America. This book examines the demographic and epidemiological trends underlying this development. It discusses the impact on adults of several major infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases, the reproductive health of women, and deaths from accidents and violence.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the adult mortality situation in India. Each chapter ranges from general adult mortality patterns to its consequences in India. It discusses data-related challenges to studying adult mortality and examines the level, trends, and changing patterns, whether convergence or divergence of adult mortality across the regions from 1981 to 2015. Analyzing the mortality risk across different socioeconomic groups of the population in India, it examines the major underlying causes of adult death with a detailed analysis of external causes of death. The volume enhances the reader's understanding of adult health situations through the lenses of gender, caste, religion, rural-urban, economic status, and region of residence, and its severe consequences at the household level. It is a valuable addition to knowledge on demography, epidemiology, health economics, applied statistics, and public health studies worldwide. It is a must-reference work for Master's and Ph.D. scholars to explore India's and low- and middle-income countries' mortality situations.