The impact of a migration-caused selection effect on regional mortality differences in Italy and Germany

-Germany, Italy, ageing, migration trends, mortality, mortality determinants, regional demography, selective migration

Survival differences among the oldest old in Sardinia: who, what, where, and why?

A study of centenarians in Sardinia detected the existence of an area where the number of centenarians is higher than elsewhere, in particularly for men. There is a widespread opinion that the existence of a greater or a lesser number of centenarians largely depends on mortality features between 80 and 100 years. This study aims to cast light on our knowledge of elderly mortality differentials, total and by cause of death, in Sardinia, and attempts to verify this hypothesis. To do so, an analysis is conducted of age and sex mortality trends over time at province and municipality level. Results fully confirm the underlying hypothesis.causes of death, centenarians, geography of mortality, Italy, life expectancy, mortality, oldest old, Sardinia, survival differences

The effects of war losses on mortality estimates for Italy

For countries that experience substantial war losses in a given time period, the exclusion of military deaths can have an important impact on estimates of mortality and life expectancy. In this paper, we start by reviewing Vallin’s work in accounting for French war losses. We then attempt to apply comparable methods to Italy in order to account for the effects of war. The results indicate that estimates currently available from the Human Mortality Database (HMD) greatly underestimate period mortality during wartime among all Italian males, and may even underestimate mortality among civilian males. Finally, we discuss how failing to account for war mortality presents problems in making inter-country mortality comparisons.civilian, France, Italy, life expectancy, military, mortality, war, war losses, war mortality

Immigrazione, salute e mortalità degli stranieri in Italia

*** Sommario *** 1.Introduzione. 2. Gli stranieri in Italia: un fenomeno dalle molte facce. 3. La salute della popolazione straniera residente in Italia. 3.1. Salute percepita, malattie croniche e limitazioni delle attività. 3.2.Ospedalizzazione, salute riproduttiva, infortuni e malattie professionali. 4. La mortalità degli stranieri residenti. 4.1. La mortalità infantile. 4.2. La mortalità degli adulti: totale e per causa. 5. Conclusioni: un futuro difficile da prevedere. *** SINTESI *** Lo scopo principale di questo lavoro è quello di presentare un’analisi della salute e della mortalità degli stranieri residenti nel nostro paese alla luce delle informazioni esistenti, partendo, però, da un quadro il più ampio possibile dell’immigrazione e delle caratteristiche della popolazione straniera. La prima parte del lavoro è, pertanto, dedicata alla descrizione dell’evoluzione del fenomeno migratorio, condotta partendo dalle statistiche ufficiali disponibili. In particolare, viene evidenziata la sua complessità e articolazione in termini di paesi di provenienza dei migranti, considerando le motivazioni del loro spostamento e le caratteristiche demografiche e sociali, con cenni alle modalità di insediamento sul territorio italiano e all’inserimento nel mercato del lavoro. La seconda parte del lavoro affronta il tema delle condizioni di salute degli immigrati/stranieri, facendo ricorso ai dati dell’indagine realizzata dall’Istituto nazionale di statistica (Istat) nel 2009 su “Reddito e condizioni di vita delle famiglie con stranieri” e prendendo in esame tre dimensioni del fenomeno: la salute percepita, le limitazioni delle attività legate alle condizioni di salute (o salute funzionale) e la presenza di malattie croniche. Le rilevazioni correnti disponibili consentono di rivolgere uno sguardo anche alle condizioni di accesso ai servizi sanitari e di analizzare la salute riproduttiva, gli incidenti sul lavoro e le malattie professionali. Questi aspetti particolari consentono di mettere in luce alcune delle questioni più significative delle condizioni di salute della popolazione straniera che vive sul territorio italiano

Maternal longevity is associated with lower infant mortality

OBJECTIVE Referring to the multidisciplinary and multipurpose survey AKeA2, and focusing on family genealogy data on centenarian women and controls, this paper aims to verify the hypothesis that maternal longevity is associated with lower infant mortality in offspring, after having controlled for fertility characteristics, familial longevity and some contextual variables. METHODS The association between the longevity of a mother and her children's infant mortality level was assessed using a multivariate Poisson Regression Model with robust estimates, which is suitable for estimating consistently and efficiently the relative risk when binary data are used. RESULTS Our results show an association between longevity and infant mortality among the children of the Sardinians who survived to become centenarians. Infant mortality is significantly lower for children belonging to a mother born and living in Sassari and Oristano than Nuoro, close to each other and both located on the Western coast.</br

Pathophysiology of ageing, longevity and age related diseases

On April 18, 2007 an international meeting on Pathophysiology of Ageing, Longevity and Age-Related Diseases was held in Palermo, Italy. Several interesting topics on Cancer, Immunosenescence, Age-related inflammatory diseases and longevity were discussed. In this report we summarize the most important issues. However, ageing must be considered an unavoidable end point of the life history of each individual, nevertheless the increasing knowledge on ageing mechanisms, allows envisaging many different strategies to cope with, and delay it. So, a better understanding of pathophysiology of ageing and age-related disease is essential for giving everybody a reasonable chance for living a long and enjoyable final part of the life

The impact of increasing education levels on rising life expectancy: a decomposition analysis for Italy, Denmark, and the USA

Abstract Significant reductions in mortality are reflected in strong increases in life expectancy particularly in industrialized countries. Previous analyses relate these improvements primarily to medical innovations and advances in health-related behaviors. Mostly ignored, however, is the question to what extent the gains in life expectancy are related to structural changes in the populations due to increasing education levels. We decompose changes of the total populations' life expectancy at age 30 in Italy, Denmark, and the USA, over the 20-year period between 1990 and 2010 into the effects of education-specific mortality changes ("M effect") and changes in the populations' educational structure ("P effect"). We use the "replacement decomposition technique" to further subdivide the M effect into the contributions by the individual education groups. While most of the increases in life expectancy are due to the effect of changing mortality, a large proportion of improvements in longevity can indeed be attributed to the changing structure of the population by level of education in all three countries. The estimated contribution of the P effect ranges from around 15% for men in the USA to approximately 40% for women in Denmark. This study demonstrates strong associations between education and overall population health, suggesting that education policies can also be seen as indirect health policies