Educational inequalities in cause-specific mortality in Argentina

MANZELLI, HERNÁN

Campinas

Seminario; International Seminar on Mortality: Past, Present and Future; 2017

International Union for the Scientfic Study of the Population - IUSSP

The study of mortality patterns through the analysis of underlying causes of death is a classic approach in demography, epidemiology and public health. The main conceptual insights of the theory of the epidemiological transition (Omran 1971) relies on the analysis of changing mortality patterns due to changes in the social, economic, and medical conditions that unfold in different historical periods. Those studies dedicated to the analysis of socio-demographic differentials in mortality distinctively focus on how these changing patterns differ across different social groups. The main aim of this article is to describe and analyze the mortality levels for specific underlying causes of death, and the relationship of these mortality levels with educational attainment during the 1991-2010 period in Argentina. Specifically, I focus on understanding educational differences in underlying cause of death patterns in Argentina. The data used in this study come from the Mortality Files for the year 2009,2010 and 2011, and from the 2010 Argentinian Censuses. Methods: Death rates (per 1,000 persons) for each age group for each of the three categories of educational attainment. I examine similarities and differences in death rates between the three different educational groups by age group, sex, region, and cause of death. (e.g., Kitagawa and Hauser 1973; Molla, Madans et al. 2004). Mortality ratios to compare rates across educational attainment groups. To analyze educational differences in mortality by cause of death, I calculate cause-specific mortality rates (per 1,000 population) by sex and age group, specified for each educational group. The analysis of educational differences in cause-specific mortality also uses mortality ratios for the different sexes, age groups, and regions.