Causes of death behind low life expectancy of Danish women

Aims: The authors examined causes of death contributing to the relatively high mortality of Danish women born 1915-45, and evaluated the impact of smoking related causes of death. Methods: Age-period-cohort analysis of mortality of Danish women aged 40-89 in 1960-98. Estimate of the negative curvature in parabola patterns for 50 causes of death. Results: A total of 34 causes of death contributed to the relatively high mortality for women born 1915-45. The main contribution came from smoking-related causes of death. Conclusion: The results indicate a high smoking prevalence to be the main explanation behind the relatively low life expectancy of Danish women born 1915-45.