www.pnas.org/content/110/15/5797.abstract.html?etoc

www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db116.htm

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0057962

B. “Predictive Value of a Profile of Routine Blood Measurements on Mortality in Older Persons in the General Population: The Leiden 85-Plus Study,” by Anne H. van Houwelingen, Wendy P.J. den Elzen, Simon P. Mooijaart, Margot Heijmans, Jeanet W. Blom, Anton J. M. de Craen, and Jacobijn Gussekloo (PLoS ONE 8(3): e58050. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058050, XML, HTML, and .pdf format, 8p.).

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0058050

C. “Chronic Administration of Anti-Stroke Herbal Medicine TongLuoJiuNao Reduces Amyloidogenic Processing of Amyloid Precursor Protein in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease,” by Ping He, Pengtao Li, Qian Hua, Yuan Liu, Matthias Staufenbiel, Rena Li, and Yong Shen (PLoS ONE 8(3): e58181. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058181, XML, HTML, and .pdf format, 9p.).

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0058181

D. “End-of-Life Decisions: A Cross-National Study of Treatment Preference Discussions and Surrogate Decision-Maker Appointments,” by Natalie Evans, H. Roeline Pasman, Tomas Vega Alonso, Lieve Van den Block, Guido Miccinesi, Viviane Van Casteren, Ge Donker, Stefano Bertolissi, Oscar Zurriaga, Luc Deliens, and Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen, on behalf of EUROIMPACT (PLoS ONE 8(3): e57965. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057965, XML, HTML, and .pdf format, 12p.).

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0057965

E. “A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study of Home-Based Step Training in Older People Using Videogame Technology,” by Daniel Schoene, Stephen R. Lord, Kim Delbaere, Connie Severino, Thomas A. Davies, and Stuart T. Smith (PLoS ONE 8(3): e57734. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057734, XML, HTML, and .pdf format, 8p.).

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0057734

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/health-ineq/health-inequalities/1982—2006/stb-trends-in-mortality-by-ns-sec-at-older-ages–1982-86-to-2002-06.html

B. “2012 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: Summary of Pension Results,” (February 2013, .pdf and HTML format, 20p.).

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ashe/annual-survey-of-hours-and-earnings-pension-tables/2012-provisional-results/2012-annual-survey-of-hours-and-earnings–summary-of-pensions-results.html

Abstract:

Recently, a large number of new mortality models have been proposed to analyse historic mortality rates and project them into the future. Many of these suffer from being over-parametrised or have terms added in an ad hoc manner which cannot be justified in terms of demographic significance. In addition, poor specification of a model can lead to period effects in the data being wrongly attributed to cohort effects which results in the model making implausible projections. We present a general procedure for constructing mortality models using a combination of a toolkit of functions and expert judgement. By following the general procedure, it is possible to identify sequentially every significant demographic feature in the data and give it a parametric structural form. We demonstrate using UK mortality data that the general procedure produces a relatively parsimonious model that nevertheless has a good fit to the data.

www.pensions-institute.org/workingpapers/wp1301.pdf

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0052561

www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/deaths/

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

Data access:

www.mortality.org/

- Data for Switzerland were revised and updated through 2011 (Jan. 4, 2013).

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

Data access:

www.mortality.org/

Abstract:

Mortality trends in Cyprus show a similar decreasing trend over the past thirty years to other developed countries. Using detailed, age specific data from 2003 and 2009, we estimate the impact of the change in Cypriot male and female mortality on a stylized life annuity framework for a Cypriot retiree. Based on these results and the general pension framework in Cyprus, we propose a few measures that can alleviate the burden of decreased mortality on pension obligations.

www.pensions-institute.org/workingpapers/wp1209.pdf

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/mortality-ageing/mortality-in-england-and-wales/average-life-span/rpt-average-life-span.html

A. “Age-specific and sex-specific mortality in 187 countries, 1970-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” by Haidong Wang, Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Katherine T. Lofgren, Julie Knoll Rajaratnam, Jacob R. Marcus, Alison Levin-Rector, Carly E. Levitz, Alan D. Lopez, and Christopher J.L. Murray (Vol. 380, No. 9859, December 15, 2012, p. 2071-2094).

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961728-0/abstract

B. “Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” by Rafael Lozano, Mohsen Naghavi, Kyle Foreman, et al. (Vol. 380, No. 9859, December 15, 2012, p. 2095-2128).

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961728-0/abstract

C. “Common values in assessing health outcomes from disease and injury: disability weights measurement study for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” by Joshua A. Salomon, Theo Vos, Daniel R. Hogan, Michael Gagnon, Mohsen Naghavi, Ali Mokdad, Nazma Begum, Razibuzzaman Shah, et al. (Vol. 380, No. 9859, December 15, 2012, p. 2129-2143).

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961680-8/abstract

D. “Healthy life expectancy for 187 countries, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden Disease Study 2010,” by Joshua A. Salomon, Haidong Wang, Michael K. Freeman, Theo Vos, Abraham D. Flaxman, Alan D. Lopez, and Christopher J.L. Murray (Vol. 380, No. 9859, December 15, 2012, p. 2144-2162).

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961690-0/abstract

E. “Years lived with disability (YLDs) for 1160 sequelae of 289 diseases and injuries 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” by Theo Vos, Abraham D. Flaxman, Mohsen Naghavi, Rafael Lozano, Catherine Michaud, Majid Ezzati, Kenji Shibuya, Joshua A. Salomon, Safa Abdalla, et al. (Vol. 380, No. 9859, December 15, 2012, p. 2163-2196).

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961729-2/abstract

F. “Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” by Christopher J. L. Murray, Theo Vos, Rafael Lozano, Mohsen Naghavi, Abraham D. Flaxman, Catherine Michaud, Majid Ezzati, Kenji Shibuya, Joshua A. Salomon, et al. (Vol. 380, No. 9859, December 15, 2012, p. 2197-2223).

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961689-4/abstract

G. “A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” by Stephen S. Lim, Theo Vos, Abraham D. Flaxman, Goodarz Danaei, Kenji Shibuya, Heather Adair-Rohani, Markus Amann, H. Ross Anderson, Kathryn G. Andrews, et al. (Vol. 380, No. 9859, December 15, 2012, p. 2224-2260).

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961766-8/abstract

Abstract:

This paper brings new evidence from the privatized social security system in Mexico, offering insight into investment behavior and the efficacy of government ‘nudges’ in the context of profit maximizing firms. We use administrative data from the social security system surrounding the government adoption of a new official fee index aimed at simplifying fees and increasing price sensitivity of investors. The fee index combined load and management fees in a particular way, implying that choosing a lower index firm could lead many workers to choose a higher-cost fund for them. We find that before the index, investors of all backgrounds paid little attention to fees when choosing fund managers. Post-policy intervention, investors heavily weighted the fee index regardless of whether doing so caused them to choose a higher-cost fund. In contrast to investors, we find that firms responded optimally to the changes in demand induced by government policy, restructuring rather than lowering their fees to minimize the index. The strategic response erased gains to consumers from increased price sensitivity and redistributed management fees from high-income to low-income segments of the market. We conclude that regulations and policies aimed at aiding consumer decision-making also need to incorporate firm incentives to be effective.

papers.nber.org/papers/w18582

B. “The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia’s Mortality Crisis,” by Jay Bhattacharya, Christina Gathmann, and Grant Miller (w18589, December 2012, .pdf format, 45p.).

Abstract:

Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia’s 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994. Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol-related causes and among working-age men (the heaviest drinkers), this paper investigates an alternative explanation: the demise of the 1985-1988 Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign. Using archival sources to build a new oblast-year data set spanning 1978-2000, we find a variety of evidence suggesting that the campaign’s end explains a large share of the mortality crisis – implying that Russia’s transition to capitalism and democracy was not as lethal as commonly suggested.

papers.nber.org/papers/w18589

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

Data access:

www.mortality.org/

www.who.int/whosis/mort/download/en/index.html

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6137a6.htm?s_cid=mm6137a6_w

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1202099?query=TOC#t=abstract

- Data for Bulgaria were revised and updated through 2010. (Sept. 5, 2012).

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=10737422603

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0042751

- Data for Estonia were revised and updated through 2010 (Aug. 3, 2012).

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/84f0211x/84f0211x2009000-eng.htm

- Data for USA were revised and updated through 2009 (Jul. 20, 2012).

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

- Data access.

www.mortality.org/

www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=10737422286

Abstract:

Including a matching contribution increases savings plan participation and contributions, although the impact is less significant than the impact of nonfinancial approaches. Conditional on participation, a higher match rate has only a small effect on savings plan contributions. In contrast, the match threshold has a substantial impact, probably because it serves as a natural reference point when individuals are deciding how much to save and may be viewed as advice from the savings program sponsor on how much to save. Other behavioral approaches to changing savings plan outcomes–including automatic enrollment, simplification, planning aids, reminders, and commitment features–potentially have a much greater impact on savings outcomes than do financial incentives, often at a much lower cost.

papers.nber.org/papers/W18220

B. “Health and Work At Older Ages: Using Mortality To Assess Employment Capacity Across Countries,” by Kevin S. Milligan, David A. Wise (w18229, July 2012, .pdf format, 40p.).

Abstract:

While longevity increased substantially over the last 50 years and health at older ages has improved, labor force participation at older ages has declined. We use mortality rates as a marker for the “health capacity” to work at older ages in 12 OECD countries. Mortality rates can be compared across countries and over time within the same country. For a given level of mortality, we find employment rates of older men vary substantially through time and across countries. At each mortality rate in 2007, if men in France worked as much as men in the United States, they would work 4.6 years more over ages 55 to 69 than they actually did. Comparing the work and mortality of American men in 2007 to the base year of 1977, the same calculation yields 3.7 years more work. These findings suggest a large increase in the health capacity to work, as measured by mortality. The relationship between cross-country mortality and changes in work over time at older ages is weak, suggesting the take-up of this extra capacity to work has varied. However, the dispersion in employment given mortality is strongly influenced by the retirement incentives inherent in public pension programs.

papers.nber.org/papers/W18229

Abstract:

Social Security benefits may be commenced at any time between ages 62 and 70. As individuals who claim later can, on average, expect to receive benefits for a shorter period, an actuarial adjustment is made to the monthly benefit to reflect the age at which benefits are claimed. In earlier work (Shoven and Slavov, 2012), we investigated the actuarial fairness of this adjustment for individuals with average life expectancy for their cohort. We found that for current real interest rates, delaying is actuarially advantageous for a large subset of people, particularly for primary earners in married couples. In this paper, we quantify the degree of actuarial advantage or disadvantage for individuals whose mortality differs from the average. We find that at real interest rates close to zero, most households – even those with mortality rates that are twice the average – benefit from some delay, at least for the primary earner. At real interest rates closer to their historical average, however, singles with mortality that is substantially greater than average do not benefit from delay; however, primary earners with high mortality can still improve the present value of the household’s benefits through delay. We also investigate the extent to which the actuarial advantage of delay has grown since the early 1960s, when the choice of when to claim first became available, and we decompose this growth into three effects: (1) the effect of changes in Social Security’s rules, (2) the effect of changes in the real interest rate, and (3) the effect of changes in life expectancy.

papers.nber.org/papers/w18210

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60399-7/abstract

jag.sagepub.com/content/vol31/issue4/?etoc

Public Health (Vol. 126, No. 6, June, 2012)

www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00333506/126/6

www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol26/23/

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0037696

B. “Quantifying Age-Related Differences in Information Processing Behaviors When Viewing Prescription Drug Labels,” by Raghav Prashant Sundar, Mark W. Becker, Nora M. Bello, and Laura Bix (PLoS ONE 7(6): e38819. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038819, XML, HTML, and .pdf format, 8p.).

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0038819

C. “Smoking, Habitual Tea Drinking and Metabolic Syndrome in Elderly Men Living in Rural Community: The Tianliao Old People (TOP) Study 02,” by Chin-Sung Chang, Yin-Fan Chang, Ping-Yen Liu, Chuan-Yu Chen, Yau-Sheng Tsai, and Chih-Hsing Wu (PLoS ONE 7(6): e38874. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038874, XML, HTML, and .pdf format, 8p.).

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0038874

www.demogr.mpg.de/en/projects_publications/publications_1904/mpidr_working_papers/mortality_shocks_and_the_human_rate_of_aging_4601.htm

www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_06.pdf

www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol26/19/

Abstract:

This paper discusses a new pattern of mortality model which is built on the form and knowledge of the two-factor mortality model named after its designers Cairns, Blake and Dowd (2006). This model – the CBD model – is widely used and has been extended by the authors in a number of ways, including by the use of a cohort effect. In this paper, we propose a range of new parsimonious approaches to model the cohort effect. Instead of adding a cohort factor to an age-period model we model the effect by building discontinuities into the pattern of rates within each year. The fit of the resulting models is close to that available from the best of the CBD derivatives.

www.pensions-institute.org/workingpapers/wp1205.pdf

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1112010?query=TOC#t=abstract

epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/3-19042012-AP/EN/3-19042012-AP-EN.PDF

www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=6462

www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e1602

crr.bc.edu/briefs/why-do-more-people-die-during-economic-expansions/

Abstract:

Life expectancy at birth, estimated from United States period life tables, has been shown to vary systematically and widely by region and race. We use the same tables to estimate the probability of survival from birth to age 70 (S70), a measure of mortality more sensitive to disparities and more reliably calculated for small populations, to describe the variation and identify its sources in greater detail to assess the patterns of this variation. Examination of the unadjusted probability of S70 for each US county with a sufficient population of whites and blacks reveals large geographic differences for each race-sex group. For example, white males born in the ten percent healthiest counties have a 77 percent probability of survival to age 70, but only a 61 percent chance if born in the ten percent least healthy counties. Similar geographical disparities face white women and blacks of each sex. Moreover, within each county, large differences in S70 prevail between blacks and whites, on average 17 percentage points for men and 12 percentage points for women. In linear regressions for each race-sex group, nearly all of the geographic variation is accounted for by a common set of 22 socio-economic and environmental variables, selected for previously suspected impact on mortality; R2 ranges from 0.86 for white males to 0.72 for black females. Analysis of black-white survival chances within each county reveals that the same variables account for most of the race gap in S70 as well. When actual white male values for each explanatory variable are substituted for black in the black male prediction equation to assess the role explanatory variables play in the black-white survival difference, residual black-white differences at the county level shrink markedly to a mean of -2.4% (+/-2.4); for women the mean difference is -3.7 % (+/-2.3).

www.nber.org/papers/w17901

www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol26/11/

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lifetables/historic-and-projected-mortality-data-from-the-uk-life-tables/2010-based/rpt-surviving-to-100.html

- Data for Taiwan were revised and updated through 2010 (Mar. 21, 2012).

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

Data access:

www.mortality.org/

- Data for Australia were revised and updated through 2009 (Mar. 19, 2012).

www.mortality.org/cgi-bin/hmd/DataAvailability.php

Data access:

www.mortality.org/

www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001179

B. “Complexity in Non-Pharmacological Caregiving Activities at the End of Life: An International Qualitative Study,” by Olav Lindqvist, Carol Tishelman, Carina Lundh Hagelin, Jean B. Clark, Maria L. Daud, Andrew Dickman, Franzisca Domeisen Benedetti, Maren Galushko, Urska Lunder, Gunilla Lundquist, Guido Miccinesi, Sylvia B. Sauter, Carl Johan Furst, and Birgit H. Rasmussen (PLoS Med 9(2): e1001173. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001173, XML, HTML, and .pdf format, 10p.).

www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001173