Influence of Place of Birth on Adult Mortality: The Case of Spain

We use a unique data set from Spain and we estimate life expectancy at age 50 for males and females by place of residence and place of birth. We show that, consistent with expectations regarding the influence of early conditions on adult health and mortality, the effects of place of birth on adult mortality are very strong, irrespective of place of residence. Furthermore, we find that mortality levels observed in a place are strongly influenced by the composition of migrants by place of birth. This is reflected in a new measure of heritability of early childhood conditions that attains a value in the range 0.42-0.43, implying that as much as 43 percent of the variance in Spain's life expectancy at age 50 is explained by place of birth. Finally, we find evidence of the healthy migrant effect, that is, positive health selection of migrants, at a regional level.

Temporal variation of the temperature-mortality association in Spain: a nationwide analysis

BACKGROUND

Although adaptation to continuously rising ambient temperatures is an emerging topic and has been widely studied at a global scale, detailed analysis of the joint indicators for long-term adaptation in Spain are scarce. This study aims to explore temporal variations of the minimum mortality temperature and mortality burden from heat and cold between 1979 and 2018.

METHODS

We collected individual all-cause mortality and climate reanalysis data for 4 decades at a daily time step. To estimate the temperature-mortality association for each decade, we fitted a quasi-Poisson time-series regression model using a distributed lag non-linear model with 21 days of lag, controlling for trends and day of the week. We also calculated attributable mortality fractions by age and sex for heat and cold, defined as temperatures above and below the optimum temperature, which corresponds to the minimum mortality in each period.

RESULTS

We analysed over 14 million deaths registered in Spain between 1979 and 2018. The optimum temperature estimated at a nationwide scale declined from 21 °C in 1979-1988 to 16 °C in 1999-2008, and raised to 18 °C in 2009-2018. The mortality burden from moderate cold showed a 3-fold reduction down to 2.4% in 2009-2018. Since 1988-1999, the mortality risk attributable to moderate (extreme) heat reduced from 0.9% (0.8%) to 0.6% (0.5%). The mortality risk due to heat in women was almost 2 times larger than in men, and did not decrease over time.

CONCLUSION

Despite the progressively warmer temperatures in Spain, we observed a persistent flattening of the exposure-response curves, which marked an expansion of the uncertainty range of the optimal temperatures. Adaptation has been produced to some extent in a non-uniform manner with a substantial decrease in cold-related mortality, while for heat it became more apparent in the most recent decade only.

The effects of socioeconomic conditions on old-age mortality within shared disability pathways

Objective

How disability manifests itself in an individual is a highly complex process influenced by a wide range of individual and environmental factors. Its complexity makes the search for generalizable characteristics of the disablement process a challenging task. Consequentially, little is known about how the effect on other health outcomes such as life expectancy are modified after the onset of chronic ailments. In this paper we posit an alternative approach to generalize health trajectories of older people with disability and then analyze how socioeconomic conditions affect the longevity within these trajectory groups.

Methods

Individual level information about the first three successive onsets of chronic disability after age 50 is transformed into state-sequences. We extract trajectory groups based on onset time and the time spent in a certain state. Mortality hazards are then estimated with a Gompertz proportional hazards model to compare effects of different socioeconomic measures within the trajectory groups.

Results

Three distinct trajectory groups are identified, the mild (1), the early severe (2), and late severe (3) pathway. Estimates of the mortality analysis suggest that social inequalities in longevity are less pronounced after onset of old-age disability. We found a consistent survival prolonging effect for individuals who engage in daily activities (such as meeting with friends, walking) that ranged between 33.2% and 77.3%. The importance of other variables varies between trajectory groups.

Discussion

This study shows how health trajectories of individuals with disability can be generalized when information on the onset and severity of single conditions is available. Such an approach may help us to better predict health and care expenditures and help families and individuals with their personal care planning. The findings from the subsequent survival analysis suggest a substantial reduction of socioeconomic mortality differences after onset of old-age disability, which appears to be independent of its nature.

Age-specific excess mortality patterns and transmissibility during the 1889-1890 influenza pandemic in Madrid, Spain

PURPOSE

Although the 1889-1890 influenza pandemic was one of the most important epidemic events of the 19th century, little is known about the mortality impact of this pandemic based on detailed respiratory mortality data sets.

METHODS

We estimated excess mortality rates for the 1889-1890 pandemic in Madrid from high-resolution respiratory and all-cause individual-level mortality data retrieved from the Gazeta de Madrid, the Official Bulletin of the Spanish government. We also generated estimates of the reproduction number from the early growth phase of the pandemic.

RESULTS

The main pandemic wave in Madrid was evident from respiratory and all-cause mortality rates during the winter of 1889-1890. Our estimates of excess mortality for this pandemic were 58.3 per 10,000 for all-cause mortality and 44.5 per 10,000 for respiratory mortality. Age-specific excess mortality rates displayed a J-shape pattern, with school children aged 5-14 years experiencing the lowest respiratory excess death rates (8.8 excess respiratory deaths per 10,000), whereas older populations aged greater than or equal to 70 years had the highest rates (367.9 per 10,000). Although seniors experienced the highest absolute excess death rates, the standardized mortality ratio was highest among young adults aged 15-24 years. The early growth phase of the pandemic displayed dynamics consistent with an exponentially growing transmission process. Using the generalized-growth method, we estimated the reproduction number in the range of 1.2-1.3 assuming a 3-day mean generation interval and of 1.3-1.5 assuming a 4-day mean generation interval.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study adds to our understanding of the mortality impact and transmissibility of the 1889-1890 influenza pandemic using detailed individual-level mortality data sets. More quantitative studies are needed to quantify the variability of the mortality impact of this understudied pandemic at regional and global scales.