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The Effect of Parity on Cause-Specific Mortality Among Married Men and Women

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine mortality differentials among men and women by parity for deaths from cardio-vascular disease (CVD), cancer and other causes. The census-based Israel Longitudinal Mortality Study II (1995–2004) was used to identify 71,733 married men and 62,822 married women (45–89 years). During the 9-year follow-up period, 19,347 deaths were reported. Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, origin, and social class were used. A non-linear association between parity and CVD mortality was detected for men and women. Excess CVD mortality risks were observed among middle-aged women with no children (hazard ratio [HR] 2.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.49, 3.96) and among middle-aged women and men with 8+ children (HRwomen 1.64, CI 1.02, 2.65; HRmen 1.40, CI 1.01, 1.93) compared to those with two children. No clear pattern of association between cancer mortality and parity was apparent for men. Elderly women with 8+ children showed reduced mortality risks from reproductive cancers (HR 0.22, CI 0.05, 0.91). Similar parity-related mortality patterns were observed for men and women for deaths from CVD and other causes indicating biosocial pathways. The association between parity and cancer mortality differed by gender, age and type of cancer.

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Acknowledgments

Data were created by grant 93-00015/2 from the US–Israel Bi-national Science Foundation and grant 03/120 from the Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah, P.O.B. 12272, 91120, Jerusalem, Israel

    Dena H. Jaffe & Orly Manor

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

    Zvi Eisenbach

Authors
  1. Dena H. Jaffe
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  2. Zvi Eisenbach
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  3. Orly Manor
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Correspondence to Dena H. Jaffe.

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Jaffe, D.H., Eisenbach, Z. & Manor, O. The Effect of Parity on Cause-Specific Mortality Among Married Men and Women. Matern Child Health J 15, 376–385 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0591-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0591-x

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