Contributions of causes of death to differentials in life expectancy by internal migrant status in the Netherlands. A population register based study, 2015-2019.

Important health differences exist in the context of international migration and residential mobility. Less is known about health differences regarding the medium-distance level of internal migration. This study examines life expectancy gaps between internal movers and stayers in the Netherlands and their underlying processes by assessing the contribution of different causes of death by age and sex. It uses individually-linked death counts and population exposures extracted from population registers, covering the native Dutch population aged 10+ from 2015 to 2019. The pooled data were disaggregated by causes-of-death group (neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, lifestyle-related mortality, external causes, and other causes), internal migrant status (movers and stayers, based on past 10-year residence in the 40 NUTS-3 [Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, level 3] regions), age, and sex. Comparing movers and stayers, we computed life expectancy at age 10 (e10), age- and cause-specific mortality risks, and applied decomposition methods to assess contributions of causes of death to e10 gaps. In the Netherlands in 2015-2019, e10 was lower for movers between NUTS-3 regions than stayers (males: 2.49 years; females: 3.51 years), due to excess mortality for movers at most ages. Movers only had a lower mortality than stayers at younger working ages (males: ages 20-44; females: ages 20-34). Mortality from neurodegenerative diseases and cardiovascular diseases were the largest contributors to the e10 gap, especially at ages 75+ and for females. Mortality from lifestyle-related and external causes of death contributed less, with the largest contributions for females aged 75-89 and males aged 45-69. The lower e10 of movers in the Netherlands is likely explained by health selection effects-in particular care-related moves as coping behaviour-rather than by causal effects through risk accumulation. Research focusing on regional or spatial heterogeneity of the mover-stayer health gap would be insightful to further understand these processes.

Trends in educational inequalities in smoking-attributable mortality and their impact on changes in general mortality inequalities: evidence from England and Wales, Finland, and Italy (Turin).

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic mortality inequalities are persistent in Europe but have been changing over time. Smoking is a known contributor to inequality levels, but knowledge about its impact on time trends in inequalities is sparse. METHODS: We studied trends in educational inequalities in smoking-attributable mortality (SAM) and assessed their impact on general mortality inequality trends in England and Wales (E&W), Finland, and Italy (Turin) from 1972 to 2017. We used yearly individually linked all-cause and lung cancer mortality data by educational level and sex for individuals aged 30 and older. SAM was indirectly estimated using the Preston-Glei-Wilmoth method. We calculated the slope index of inequality (SII) and performed segmented regression on SIIs for all-cause, smoking and non-SAM to identify phases in inequality trends. The impact of SAM on all-cause mortality inequality trends was estimated by comparing changes in SII for all-cause with non-SAM. RESULTS: Inequalities in SAM generally declined among males and increased among females, except in Italy. Among males in E&W and Finland, SAM contributed 93% and 76% to declining absolute all-cause mortality inequalities, but this contribution varied over time. Among males in Italy, SAM drove the 1976-1992 increase in all-cause mortality inequalities. Among females in Finland, increasing inequalities in SAM hampered larger declines in mortality inequalities. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that differing education-specific SAM trends by country and sex result in different inequality trends, and consequent contributions of SAM on educational mortality inequalities. The following decades of the smoking epidemic could increase educational mortality inequalities among Finnish and Italian women.

Enabling the examination of long-term mortality trends by educational level for England and Wales in a time-consistent and internationally comparable manner.

BACKGROUND: Studying long-term trends in educational inequalities in health is important for monitoring and policy evaluation. Data issues regarding the allocation of people to educational groups hamper the study and international comparison of educational inequalities in mortality. For the UK, this has been acknowledged, but no satisfactory solution has been proposed. OBJECTIVE: To enable the examination of long-term mortality trends by educational level for England and Wales (E&W) in a time-consistent and internationally comparable manner, we propose and implement an approach to deal with the data issues regarding mortality data by educational level. METHODS: We employed 10-year follow-ups of individuals aged 20+ from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS-LS), which include education information from each decennial census (1971-2011) linked to individual death records, for a 1% representative sample of the E&W population. We assigned the individual cohort data to single ages and calendar years, and subsequently obtained aggregate all-cause mortality data by education, sex, age (30+), and year (1972-2017). Our data adjustment approach optimised the available education information at the individual level, and adjusts-at the aggregate level-for trend discontinuities related to the identified data issues, and for differences with country-level mortality data for the total population. RESULTS: The approach resulted in (1) a time-consistent and internationally comparable categorisation of educational attainment into the low, middle, and high educated; (2) the adjustment of identified data-quality related discontinuities in the trends over time in the share of personyears and deaths by educational level, and in the crude and the age-standardised death rate by and across educational levels; (3) complete mortality data by education for ONS-LS members aged 30+ in 1972-2017 which aligns with country-level mortality data for the total population; and (4) the estimation of inequality measures using established methods. For those aged 30+ , both absolute and relative educational inequalities in mortality first increased and subsequently decreased. CONCLUSION: We obtained additional insights into long-term trends in educational inequalities in mortality in E&W, and illustrated the potential effects of different data issues. We recommend the use of (part of) the proposed approach in other contexts.

The impact of estimation methods for alcohol-attributable mortality on long-term trends for the general population and by educational level in Finland and Italy (Turin).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This paper assesses the impact of estimation methods for general and education-specific trends in alcohol-attributable mortality (AAM), and develops an alternative method that can be used when the data available for study is limited. METHODS: We calculated yearly adult (30+) age-standardised and age-specific AAM rates by sex for the general population and by educational level (low, middle, high) in Finland and Turin (Italy) from 1972 to 2017. Furthermore the slope index of inequality and relative inequality index were computed by country and sex. We compared trends, levels, age distributions, and educational inequalities in AAM according to three existing estimation methods: (1) Underlying COD (UCOD), (2) Multiple COD (MCOD) method, and (3) the population attributable fractions (PAF)-method. An alternative method is developed based on the pros and cons of these methods and the outcomes of the comparison. RESULTS: The UCOD and MCOD approaches revealed mainly increasing trends in AAM compared to the declining trends according to the PAF approach. These differences are more pronounced when examining AAM trends by educational groups, particularly for Finnish men. Until age 65, age patterns are similar for all methods, and levels nearly identical for MCOD and PAF in Finland. Our novel method assumes a similar trend and age pattern as observed in UCOD, but adjusts its level upwards so that it matches the level of the PAF approach for ages 30-64. Our new method yields levels in-between UCOD and PAF for Turin (Italy), and resembles the MCOD rates in Finland for females. Relative inequalities deviate for the PAF-method (lower levels) compared to other methods, whereas absolute inequalities are generally lower for UCOD than all three methods that combine wholly and partly AAM. CONCLUSIONS: The choice of method to estimate AAM affects not only levels, but also general and education-specific trends and inequalities. Our newly developed method constitutes a better alternative for multiple-country studies by educational level than the currently used UCOD-method when the data available for study is limited to underlying causes of death.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy and premature mortality in the German federal states in 2020 and 2021.

The mortality impact of COVID-19 has mainly been studied at the national level. However, looking at the aggregate impact of the pandemic at the country level masks heterogeneity at the subnational level. Subnational assessments are essential for the formulation of public health policies. This is especially important for federal countries with decentralised healthcare systems, such as Germany. Therefore, we assess geographical variation in the mortality impact of COVID-19 for the 16 German federal states in 2020 and 2021 and the sex differences therein. For this purpose, we adopted an ecological study design, using population-level mortality data by federal state, age, and sex, for 2005-2021 obtained from the German Federal Statistical Office. We quantified the impact of the pandemic using the excess mortality approach. We estimated period life expectancy losses (LE losses), excess premature mortality, and excess deaths by comparing their observed with their expected values. The expected mortality was based on projected age-specific mortality rates using the Lee-Carter methodology. Saxony was the most affected region in 2020 (LE loss 0.77 years, 95% CI 0.74;0.79) while Saarland was the least affected (-0.04, -0.09;0.003). In 2021, the regions with the highest losses were Thuringia (1.58, 1.54;1.62) and Saxony (1.57, 1.53;1.6) and the lowest in Schleswig-Holstein (0.13, 0.07;0.18). Furthermore, in 2021, eastern regions experienced higher LE losses (mean: 1.13, range: 0.85 years) than western territories (mean: 0.5, range: 0.72 years). The regional variation increased between 2020 and 2021, and was higher among males than among females, particularly in 2021. We observed an unequal distribution of the mortality impact of COVID-19 at the subnational level in Germany, particularly in 2021 among the male population. The observed differences between federal states might be partially explained by the heterogeneous spread of the virus in 2020 and by differences in the population's propensity to follow preventive guidelines.

Contributions of age groups and causes of death to the sex gap in lifespan variation in Europe.

Much less is known about the sex gap in lifespan variation, which reflects inequalities in the length of life, than about the sex gap in life expectancy (average length of life). We examined the contributions of age groups and causes of death to the sex gap in lifespan variation for 28 European countries, grouped into five European regions. In 2010-15, males in Europe displayed a 6.8-year-lower life expectancy and a 2.3-year-higher standard deviation in lifespan than females, with clear regional differences. Sex differences in lifespan variation are attributable largely to higher external mortality among males aged 30-39, whereas sex differences in life expectancy are due predominantly to higher smoking-related and cardiovascular disease mortality among males aged 60-69. The distinct findings for the sex gap in lifespan variation and the sex gap in life expectancy provide additional insights into the survival differences between the sexes.

Reversals in past long-term trends in educational inequalities in life expectancy for selected European countries.

BACKGROUND: Across Europe, socioeconomic inequalities in mortality are large and persistent. To better understand the drivers of past trends in socioeconomic mortality inequalities, we identified phases and potential reversals in long-term trends in educational inequalities in remaining life expectancy at age 30 (e30), and assessed the contributions of mortality changes among the low-educated and the high-educated at different ages. METHODS: We used individually linked annual mortality data by educational level (low, middle and high), sex and single age (30+) from 1971/1972 onwards for England and Wales, Finland and Italy (Turin). We applied segmented regression to trends in educational inequalities in e30 (e30 high-educated minus e30 low-educated) and employed a novel demographic decomposition technique. RESULTS: We identified several phases and breakpoints in the trends in educational inequalities in e30. The long-term increases (Finnish men, 1982-2008; Finnish women, 1985-2017; and Italian men, 1976-1999) were driven by faster mortality declines among the high-educated aged 65-84, and by mortality increases among the low-educated aged 30-59. The long-term decreases (British men, 1976-2008, and Italian women, 1972-2003) were driven by faster mortality improvements among the low-educated than among the high-educated at age 65+. The recent stagnation of increasing inequality (Italian men, 1999) and reversals from increasing to decreasing inequality (Finnish men, 2008) and from decreasing to increasing inequality (British men, 2008) were driven by mortality trend changes among the low-educated aged 30-54. CONCLUSION: Educational inequalities are plastic. Mortality improvements among the low-educated at young ages are imperative for achieving long-term decreases in educational inequalities in e30.

The association of unhealthy and healthy food store accessibility with obesity prevalence among adults in the Netherlands: A spatial analysis.

Introduction: Obesity prevalence has almost tripled in Europe since 1980, and the obesogenic (food) environment is hypothesised to be one of the main drivers. Still, empirical evidence is rare for Europe. Objective: This ecological study explores spatial patterns of obesity prevalence of adults (aged 19+) in the Netherlands in 2016. It studies, in particular, its global associations with (un)healthy food store accessibility while assessing local differences and evaluating the importance of the immediate versus the wider food surroundings. Methods: In our ecological study, we used small-area estimated obesity prevalence (adults, aged 19+) from 2836 neighbourhoods (six-digit postal codes, wijken) and combined this with measures from Statistics Netherlands on accessibility to (unhealthy) fast food and (healthy) fresh food. Spatial lag of X (SLX) models were estimated for the entire Netherlands to explore global associations. Separate models for urban, suburban, and rural neighbourhoods and a geographically weighted regression (GWR) were estimated to explore and visualise local variations in the associations. Total associations from the SLX models were then decomposed to yield contributions of the immediate and wider food surroundings. Results: Regional clusters of high obesity were observed in selected areas in the north-east, the south-west, and south-east. Limited accessibility to unhealthy food was globally associated with lower obesity prevalence, whereas better accessibility to fresh food stores and supermarkets was not. The association regarding worse accessibility to unhealthy food was strongest for urban neighbourhoods, especially for the Randstad region. In urban settings, also better accessibility to fresh food stores proved relevant. The wider food surrounding proved more important than the immediate food surrounding, throughout. Discussion: Public policies addressing obesity might be more effective when reducing the presence of unhealthy food rather than expanding healthy food supply. Moreover, they should focus on urban regions and high obesity clusters, thereby considering wider food surroundings.

District-Level Mortality Convergence in Reunified Germany: Long-Term Trends and Contextual Determinants.

The mortality gap between former East and West Germany decreased rapidly in the decade following the reunification of the country in 1990. However, because no previous study has estimated life expectancy (e0) over time for all German districts, the extent of mortality convergence across districts and its determinants are largely unknown. We used a novel relational Bayesian model to estimate district e0 in Germany during 1997-2016, examined mortality convergence using a novel convergence groups approach, and explored the role of selected district characteristics in the process. Differences in e0 between German districts decreased for both sexes during 1997-2016, mainly driven by rapid mortality improvements in eastern German districts. However, considerable heterogeneity in district-level e0 trajectories within federal states was evident. For example, district clusters in northwestern Germany showed increasing e0 disadvantage, which led to a north-south divergence in mortality. A multinomial regression analysis showed a robust association between the e0 trajectory and the district-level tax base and long-term unemployment but not with hospital density. Thus, an equitable "leveling up" of health seems possible with policies investing in places and the people who inhabit them.

Long-Term Trends in Obesity Prevalence by Socio-Economic Group in Five European Countries and the USA: The Relevance of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory.

INTRODUCTION: Cross-national comparison suggests that the timing of the obesity epidemic differs across socio-economic groups (SEGs). Similar to the smoking epidemic, these differences might be described by the diffusion of innovations theory, which states that health behaviours diffuse from higher to lower SEGs. However, the applicability of the diffusion of innovations theory to long-term time trends in obesity by SEG is unknown. We studied long-term trends in the obesity prevalence by SEG in England, France, Finland, Italy, Norway, and the USA and examined whether trends are described by the diffusion of innovations theory. METHODS: Obesity prevalence from 1978 to 2019 by educational level, sex, and age group (25+ years) from health surveys was harmonized, age-standardized, Loess-smoothed, and visualized. Prevalence rate differences were calculated, and segmented regression was performed to obtain annual percentage changes, which were compared over time and across SEGs. RESULTS: Obesity prevalence among lower educated groups has exceeded that of higher educated groups, except among American men, in all countries throughout the study period. A comparable increase across educational levels was observed until approximately 2000. Recently, obesity prevalence stagnated among higher educated groups in Finland, France, Italy, and Norway and lower educated groups in England and the USA. DISCUSSION: Recent trends in obesity prevalence by SEG are mostly in line with the diffusion of innovations theory; however, no diffusion from higher to lower SEGs at the start of the epidemic was found. The stagnation among higher SEGs but not lower SEGs suggests that the latter will likely experience the greatest future burden.

Early-life exposure to economic stress and metabolic risks in young adulthood: the children of the reunification in East Germany.

BACKGROUND: Research on the long-term health consequences of early-life exposure to economic crises is scarce. We examine for the first time the long-term effects of early-life exposure to an economic crisis on metabolic health risks. We study objective health measures, and exploit the quasi-experimental situation of the postreunification economic crisis in East Germany. METHODS: Data were drawn from two waves of the longitudinal German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (2003-2006, 2014-2017). We compared 392 East Germans who were exposed to the economic crisis in utero and at ages 0-5 with 1123 of their West German counterparts using propensity score matching on individual and family characteristics. We assessed blood pressure, cholesterol, blood fat and body mass index (BMI); both combined as above-average metabolic health risks and individually at ages 19-30. RESULTS: Early-life exposure to the economic crisis significantly increased the number of above-average metabolic health risks in young adulthood by 0.1482 (95% CI 0.0169 to 0.2796), which was 5.8% higher compared with no exposure. Among individuals exposed in utero, only females showed significant effects. Early-life exposure to the economic crisis was associated with increased systolic (0.9969, 95% CI -0.2806 to 2.2743) and diastolic blood pressure (0.6786, 95% CI -0.0802 to 1.4373), and with increased BMI (0.0245, 95% CI -0.6516 to 0.7001). CONCLUSION: The increased metabolic health risks found for women exposed to the postreunification economic crisis in-utero are likely attributable to increased economic stress. While the observed differences are small, they may foreshadow the emergence of greater health disparities in older age.

The progression of the tobacco epidemic in India on the national and regional level, 1998-2016.

BACKGROUND: Evidence regarding the progression of the tobacco epidemic remains fragmented in low- and middle-income countries. In India, most of the studies that examined tobacco consumption focused on one time point, on the country as a whole, and on men. Despite important gender differences in tobacco consumption, vast economic and cultural differences exist within India. We, therefore, assessed the progression of the tobacco epidemic in India on both the national and the regional level, by gender. METHODS: We use information on current tobacco use among Indians aged 15-49 from three rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) (1998-99, 2005-06, 2015-16) to estimate the age-standardized sex specific smoking and smokeless tobacco prevalence across India and its states. RESULTS: Age-standardized tobacco use prevalence in India increased between 1998-1999 and 2005-2006, and declined from 2005-2006 to 2015-2016, simultaneously for men and women. There are substantial spatial differences in the progression of the tobacco epidemic in India. While tobacco use declined in the majority of states, we observe high and increasing use for men in the north-eastern states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, and for women in the western state of Gujarat and north-eastern state of Manipur. We observed even more states with a recent increasing prevalence in either tobacco smoking or smokeless tobacco. Throughout, prevalence of tobacco use has been higher among men than women for all Indian regions, and remained higher than the national average in the north-eastern states. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that India and the majority of its states experienced a 'compressed tobacco epidemic' in which the prevalence of tobacco consumption increased and decreased simultaneously for women and men over a comparatively short period of time. Despite the overall progress India made in reducing tobacco use, further lowering tobacco consumption remains a public health priority, as the prevalence of smoking and/or smokeless tobacco use remains high in a number of states. We therefore conclude that tobacco regulations should be expanded with the aim of reducing the overall health burden associated with tobacco consumption across India.

Alcohol and educational inequalities: Hazardous drinking prevalence and all-cause mortality by hazardous drinking group in people aged 50 and older in Europe.

BACKGROUND: We examined educational inequalities in hazardous drinking prevalence among individuals aged 50 or more in 14 European countries, and explored educational inequalities in mortality in hazardous drinkers in European regions.Methods: We analyzed data from waves 4, 5 and 6 of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We estimated age-standardized hazardous drinking prevalence, and prevalence ratios (PR) of hazardous drinking by country and educational level using Poisson regression models with robust variance. We estimated the relative index of inequality (RII) for all-cause mortality among hazardous drinkers and non-hazardous drinkers using Cox proportional hazards regression models and for each region (North, South, East and West).Results: In men, educational inequalities in hazardous drinking were not observed (PRmedium = 1.09 [95%CI: 0.98-1.21] and PRhigh = 0.99 [95%CI: 0.88-1.10], ref. low), while in they were observed in women, having the highest hazardous drinking prevalence in the highest educational levels (PRmedium = 1.28 [95%CI: 1.15-1.42] and PRhigh = 1.53 [95%CI: 1.36-1.72]). Overall, the Relative Index of Inequality (RII) in all-cause mortality among hazardous drinkers was 1.12 [95%CI: 1.03-1.22] among men and 1.10 [95%CI: 0.97-1.25] among women. Educational inequalities among hazardous drinkers were observed in Eastern Europe for both men (RIIhazardous = 1.21 [95%CI: 1.01-1.45]) and women (RIIhazardous = 1.46 [95%CI: 1.13-1.87]). Educational inequalities in mortality among non-hazardous drinkers were observed in Southern, Western and Eastern Europe among men, and in Eastern Europe among women.Conclusions: Higher educational attainment is positively associated with hazardous drinking prevalence among women, but not among men in most of the analyzed European countries. Clear educational inequalities in mortality among hazardous drinkers were only observed in Eastern Europe. Further research on the associations between alcohol use and inequalities in all-cause mortality in different regions is needed.

The Short-Term Effects of European Integration on Mortality Convergence: A Case Study of European Union's 2004 Enlargement.

Although European integration can be expected to result in mortality convergence (reduced mortality differences), a life expectancy divide persists in the European Union (EU) between the old Member States (OMS) in the west and the new Member States (NMS) in the east. Studies investigating the impact of European integration on mortality convergence are rare and did not consider regional differences. We examine the short-term effects of the 2004 enlargement on mortality convergence at the supranational, national, and subnational levels. Using sex-specific life expectancies for 23 Member States (1990-2017) and the NUTS 2 regions in Czechia, Hungary, and Poland for 1992-2016, we examined the trend in sigma and beta mortality convergence measures at the country and regional levels using joinpoint regression. We found no compelling evidence that EU accession influenced the process of mortality convergence between OMS and NMS, or within the three NMS, over the short term. While there was overall beta and sigma convergence at the national level during 1990-2017, no regional convergence showed, and the trends in convergence did not significantly change at the time of EU accession or soon after (2004-2007). The accession in 2004 did not visibly impact the overall process of mortality convergence over the short term, likely because of the greater influence of country and region-specific policies and characteristics. The interaction of Member State and regional contexts with the mechanisms of European integration requires further study. Future enlargement procedures should emphasise tailored support to ensure more equitable gains from European integration. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-021-09596-y.

Future life expectancy in Europe taking into account the impact of smoking, obesity, and alcohol.

Introduction: In Europe, women can expect to live on average 82 years and men 75 years. Forecasting how life expectancy will develop in the future is essential for society. Most forecasts rely on a mechanical extrapolation of past mortality trends, which leads to unreliable outcomes because of temporal fluctuations in the past trends due to lifestyle 'epidemics'. Methods: We project life expectancy for 18 European countries by taking into account the impact of smoking, obesity, and alcohol on mortality, and the mortality experiences of forerunner populations. Results: We project that life expectancy in these 18 countries will increase from, on average, 83.4 years for women and 78.3 years for men in 2014 to 92.8 years for women and 90.5 years for men in 2065. Compared to others (Lee-Carter, Eurostat, United Nations), we project higher future life expectancy values and more realistic differences between countries and sexes. Conclusions: Our results imply longer individual lifespans, and more elderly in society. Funding: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (grant no. 452-13-001).

On average, in Europe, men can currently expect to live till the age of 75 and women until they are 82. But what will their lifespans be in the next decades? Reliable answers to this question are essential to help governments plan for future health care and social security costs. While medical improvements are likely to further extend lifespans, lifestyle factors can result in temporal distortions of this trend. Yet, most estimates of future life expectancy fail to consider changing lifestyles, as they only use past mortality trends in their calculations. This can make these projections unreliable: for example, increases in smoking rates among Northern and Western European men led to stagnating male life expectancies in the 1950s and 1960s, but these picked up again after smoking declined. The same pattern is showing for women, except it is lagging as they took up smoking later than men. Based simply on the extrapolation of past mortality trends, current projection models fail to consider the past and predicted modifications of life expectancy trends prompted by changing rates of health behaviours ­ such as increases followed by (anticipated) declines in alcohol consumption and obesity rates, similar to what was observed with smoking. To produce a more reliable forecast, Janssen et al. incorporated trends in smoking, obesity, and alcohol use into life expectancy projections for 18 European countries. The predictions suggest that life expectancy for women in these countries will increase from 83.4 years in 2014 to 92.8 years in 2065. For men, it will also go up, from 78.3 to 90.5 years. In the future, this integrative approach may help to track the effects of health-behaviour related prevention policies on life expectancy, and allow scientists to account for changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, these estimates are higher than those obtained using more traditional methods; they suggest that communities should start to adjust to the possibility of longer individual lifespans, and of larger numbers of elderly people in society.

Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter, lung function and cognitive performance: A prospective Dutch cohort study on the underlying routes.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to fine particulate matter and black carbon is related to cognitive impairment and poor lung function, but less is known about the routes taken by different types of air pollutants to affect cognition. OBJECTIVES: We tested two possible routes of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon (BC) in impairing cognition, and evaluated their importance: a direct route over the olfactory nerve or the blood stream, and an indirect route over the lung. METHODS: We used longitudinal observational data for 49,705 people aged 18+ from 2006 to 2015 from the Dutch Lifelines cohort study. By linking current home addresses to air pollution exposure data from ELAPSE in 2010, long-term average exposure to PM2.5 and BC was assessed. Lung function was measured by spirometry and Global Initiative (GLI) z-scores of forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were calculated. Cognitive performance was measured by cognitive processing time (CPT) assessed by the Cogstate Brief Battery. Linear structural equation modeling was performed to test direct/indirect associations. RESULTS: Higher exposure to PM2.5 but not BC was related to higher CPT and slower cognitive processing speed [Total Effect PM2.5: FEV1 model = 8.31 × 10-3 (95% CI: 5.71 × 10-3, 10.91 × 10-3), FVC model = 8.30 × 10-3 (95% CI: 5.69 × 10-3, 10.90 × 10-3)]. The direct association of PM2.5 constituted more than 97% of the total effect. Mediation by lung function was low for PM2.5 with a mediated proportion of 1.32% (FEV1) and 2.05% (FVC), but higher for BC (7.01% and 13.82% respectively). DISCUSSION: Our results emphasise the importance of the lung acting as a mediator in the relationship between both exposure to PM2.5 and BC, and cognitive performance. However, higher exposure to PM2.5 was mainly directly associated with worse cognitive performance, which emphasises the health-relevance of fine particles due to their ability to reach vital organs directly.

Can changes in education alter future population ageing in Asia and Europe?

While population ageing is rising, the educational composition of the elderly remains rather heterogeneous. This study assesses the educational differences in future population ageing in Asia and Europe, and how future population ageing in Asia and Europe would change if the educational composition of its populations changed. A comparative population ageing measure (the Comparative Prospective Old-Age Threshold [CPOAT]) was used, which recalculates old-age thresholds after accounting for differences in life expectancy, and the likelihood of adults surviving to higher ages. Combined data from projected age- and sex-specific life-tables (from the United Nations) and projected age- and sex-specific survival ratios by different levels of education (from the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital) were used to construct projected life-tables (2015-2020, …, 2045-2050) by educational level and sex for different regions of Asia and Europe. Based on these life-tables, future comparative prospective old-age thresholds by educational level and sex were calculated. It was found that in both Asia and Europe, and among both men and women, the projected old-age thresholds are higher for higher educated people than for less-educated people. While Europe has a larger projected share of elderly in the population than Asia, Europe's older population is better educated. In alternative future scenarios in which populations hypothetically have higher levels of education, the projected shares of elderly in the population decrease across all regions of Asia and Europe, but more so in Asia. The results highlight the effectiveness of investing in education as a policy response to the challenges associated with population ageing in Asia and Europe. Such investments are more effective in the Asian regions, where the educational infrastructure is less developed.

The combined impact of smoking, obesity and alcohol on life-expectancy trends in Europe.

BACKGROUND: Smoking, obesity and alcohol abuse greatly affect mortality and exhibit a distinct time dynamic, with their prevalence and associated mortality rates increasing and (eventually) declining over time. Their combined impact on secular trends in life expectancy is unknown but is relevant for understanding these trends. We therefore estimate the combined impact of smoking, obesity and alcohol on life-expectancy trends in Europe. METHODS: We used estimated national age-specific smoking-, obesity- and alcohol-attributable mortality fractions for 30 European countries by sex, 1990-2014, which we aggregated multiplicatively to obtain lifestyle-attributable mortality. We estimated potential gains in life expectancy by eliminating lifestyle-attributable mortality and compared past trends in life expectancy at birth (e0) with and without lifestyle-attributable mortality. We examined all countries combined, by region and individually. RESULTS: Among men, the combined impact of smoking, obesity and alcohol on e0 declined from 6.6 years in 1990 to 5.8 years in 2014, mainly due to declining smoking-attributable mortality. Among women, the combined impact increased from 1.9 to 2.3 years due to mortality increases in all three lifestyle-related factors. The observed increase in e0 over the 1990-2014 period was 5.0 years for men and 4.0 years for women. After excluding lifestyle-attributable mortality, this increase would have been 4.2-4.3 years for both men and women. CONCLUSION: Without the combined impact of smoking, obesity and alcohol, the increase over time in life expectancy at birth would have been smaller among men but larger among women, resulting in a stable increase in e0, parallel for men and women.

Smoking epidemic in Europe in the 21st century.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate smoking-attributable mortality in the long-term future in 29 European countries using a novel data-driven forecasting approach that integrates the wave pattern of the smoking epidemic and the cohort dimension. METHODS: We estimated and forecasted age-specific and age-standardised smoking-attributable mortality fractions (SAMF) and 95% projection intervals for 29 European countries by sex, 1950-2100, using age-period-cohort modelling with a generalised logit link function. We projected the (decelerating) period increases (women) by a quadratic curve to obtain future declines, and extrapolated the past period decline (men). In addition, we extrapolated the recent cohort trend. RESULTS: SAMF among men are projected to decline from, on average, 25% in 2014 (11% (Sweden)-41% (Hungary)) to 11% in 2040 (range: 6.3%-15.4%), 7% in 2065 (range: 5.9%-9.4%) and 6% in 2100. SAMF among women in 21 non-Eastern European countries, currently at an average of 16%, are projected to reach peak levels in 2013 (Northern Europe), 2019 (Western Europe), 2027 (Greece, Italy) and 2022 (Central Europe), with maximum levels of, on average, 17% (8% (Greece)-28% (Denmark)), and to decline to 10% in 2040 (range: 4%-20%), 5% in 2065 (range: 3.5%-7.6%) and 4% in 2100. For women, a short-term shift in the peak of the inverse U-shaped age pattern to higher ages is projected, and crossovers between the age-specific trends. CONCLUSION: Our novel forecasting method enabled realistic estimates of the mortality imprint of the smoking epidemic in Europe up to 2100. The high peak values in smoking-attributable mortality projected for women warrant attention.

Future Alcohol-Attributable Mortality in France Using a Novel Generalizable Age-Period-Cohort Projection Methodology.

AIM: To forecast age- and sex-specific alcohol-attributable mortality in France for the period 2015-2050 using a novel generalizable methodology that includes different scenarios regarding period and cohort change. METHODS: For the French national population aged 25-90 years (1979-2014), we estimated alcohol-attributable mortality by mortality from the main causes of death wholly attributable to alcohol, plus liver cirrhosis mortality. We modelled sex-specific alcohol-attributable mortality by adjusting for age, period and birth cohort. We forecasted the model parameters to obtain future age- and sex-specific alcohol-attributable mortality up until 2050 using a conventional baseline, scenario I (favourable period change) and scenario II (unfavourable cohort change). RESULTS: Alcohol-attributable mortality is clearly declining in France, with the decline decelerating from 1992 onwards. In 2014, the age-standardized alcohol-attributable mortality rates, in deaths per 100,000, were 34.7 among men and 9.9 among women. In 2050, the estimated rates are between 10.5 (prediction interval: 7.6-14.4; scenario I) and 17.6 (13.1-23.7; scenario II) among men, and between 1.1 (0.7-1.7; scenario I) and 1.8 (1.2-2.9; scenario II) among women; which implies declines of 58% for men and 84% for women (baseline). CONCLUSION: Alcohol-attributable mortality in France is expected to further decline in the coming decades, accompanied by age pattern changes. However, France's levels are not expected to reach the current lower levels in Italy and Spain for 15 years or more. Our results point to the value of implementing preventive policy measures that discourage alcohol consumption among people of all ages, but especially among adolescents.