Changing life expectancy in central Europe: is there a Single reason?

Chenet, Laurent; McKee, Martin; Fulop, Naomi; Bojan, Ferenc; Brand, Helmut; Hort, Angela; Kalbarczyk, Pawel

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubmed.a024514

Cited by 73 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Cardiovascular diseases accounted for 54% followed by external causes (23%) and respiratory diseases (16%). Separate analysis of Russian,8 Hungarian,9 and German (L Chenet et al, unpublished) data confirms these aggregate findings. The contribution of external causes has been higher in the former Soviet Union (table 2), particularly since the late 1980s 5…”

Section: East-west Mortality Dividementioning

confidence: 59%

East-West mortality divide and its potential explanations: proposed research agenda

Bobák

Marmot

1996

BMJ

320

123

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There is a sharp divide in mortality between eastern and western Europe, which has largely developed over the past three decades and is caused mainly by chronic diseases in adulthood. The difference in life expectancy at birth between the best and worst European countries in this respect is more than 10 years for both sexes. The reasons for these differences in mortality are not clear and data currently available permit only speculation. The contributions of medical care and pollution are likely to be modest; health behaviour, diet, and alcohol consumption seem to be more important; smoking seems to have the largest impact. There is also evidence that psychosocial factors are less favourable in eastern Europe. Available data show socioeconomic gradients in all cause mortality within eastern European countries similar to those in the West. Determinants of the mortality gap between eastern and western Europe are probably related to the contrast in their social environments and may be similar to those underlying the social gradients in mortality within countries.

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Section: East-west Mortality Dividementioning

confidence: 59%

East-West mortality divide and its potential explanations: proposed research agenda

Bobák

Marmot

1996

BMJ

320

123

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“…Although Estonia initially underwent the same sharp fluctuations in life expectancy, from 1998 onward its trajectory diverged from that of Russia, as the Baltic state experienced steep and consistent increases. Life expectancy in the Czech Republic, which had stagnated in the 1970s and 1980s (Chenet et al 1996), started to increase almost as soon as communism in Czechoslovakia collapsed in 1989. Figure 2 shows proportional changes in all-cause mortality at different ages in Russia since 1980.…”

Section: Life Expectancy At Birth In Russia and Comparator Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Components and possible determinants of decrease in Russian mortality in 2004-2010

Shkolnikov¹,

Andreev²,

McKee³

et al. 2013

DemRes

100

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BACKGROUNDAfter a long decline, life expectancy in Russia substantially increased in 2004-2010; this is the longest period of health improvement that has been observed in the country since 1965. This study is the first analysis of this positive trend. OBJECTIVESWe seek to determine the causes and age groups that account for the additional years of life gained in 2004-10 and the remaining gap between Russia and Western countries, to assess to what extent these recent trends represent a new development relative to previous mortality fluctuations, and to identify possible explanations for the improvement. METHODSWe present an analysis of trends in life expectancy, and in age-and cause-specific mortality in Russia and selected countries in Eastern and Western Europe. We use decomposition techniques to examine the life expectancy rise in 2004-2010 and the Russia-UK life expectancy gap in 2010.

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“…While the other countries in the middle changed their positions, Slovenia clearly stood out as the country with the lowest all-cause mortality. Despite a rise in all-cause male mortality in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary in the years right after the collapse due to factors such as rising mortalities from cardiovascular and digestive system diseases as indicated by Dolea et al [19] and Chenet et al [20], there has been an overall decline in all-cause mortality rates across the countries for both males and females starting in mid-to late 1990s. All-cause male mortalities were much higher than those for females.…”

Section: Description Of Health Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Communist Health Transitions in Central and Eastern Europe

Safaei

2012

Economics Research International

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The countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have gone through immense political and socioeconomic restructuring after the collapse of communism around 1990. Such transition has affected the lives of populations in these countries in many significant respects. A key aspect of life and wellbeing in any society is that of population health. This paper traces the transitions in population health-life expectancies and mortality rates for both males and females-in seven of the CEE countries during the two decades after the fall of communism. We estimate a series of panel data models to identify some of the common factors that would explain health transitions in these countries, while allowing for country-specific variability. Our findings indicate that the health transitions are strongly country specific. Moreover, income per capita and trade openness are statistically significant common contributors to health transitions. IntroductionTwo decades have passed since the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) like countries in the former Soviet Union went through immense political and socioeconomic restructuring that began around 1990 with the collapse of communism. Since then, they have embarked on a transition from closed, totalitarian, and centrally planned economies towards open, democratic, and market-based economies. Such transition has affected the lives of populations in these countries in many significant respects. Many people in these countries have had renewed hopes for improved living conditions and great expectations for a free and prosperous future comparable to those enjoyed by many in Western and Northern Europe for many years.It is understood that the transition from communism to democratic capitalism has provided natural experiments that allow one to examine the evolution of socioeconomic wellbeing of people in the CEE countries as they restructure their socioeconomic and political institutions away from those of the past to those modeled after Western European institutions. A key aspect of wellbeing in any society is that of population health. So, it is important to examine the evolution of health outcomes in those countries as a result of such historical restructuring over the past two decades. This examination is embedded in the social determinants of health paradigm that views socioeconomic and political structures as the upstream determinants of population health [1][2][3][4].Across the CEE countries, transition has had an immediate and largely adverse impact on health as noted by McKee [5]. Such impact has been mostly related to increased deaths due to road accidents and violence which has happened in disrespect of order and state control by Leichter [6] and Winston et al. [7] among others. Subsequently, mortality rates have fallen and life expectancies improved in these countries, albeit to various degrees.In spite of improvements in health in these transitional countries, their health attainments fall significantly short of those in the Western and Northern Europe. Researchers hav...

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Changing life expectancy in central Europe: is there a Single reason?

Cited by 73 publications

References 12 publications

East-West mortality divide and its potential explanations: proposed research agenda

East-West mortality divide and its potential explanations: proposed research agenda

Components and possible determinants of decrease in Russian mortality in 2004-2010

Post-Communist Health Transitions in Central and Eastern Europe

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