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Costa Rican Mortality 1950-2013: An Evaluation of Data Quality and Trends Compared with Other Countries.

ABSTRACT: Background:Mortality estimates from various sources suggest that Costa Ricans experience record-high life expectancy at birth in Latin America and higher longevity than the populations of many high-income countries, although there is some uncertainty as to the reliability of those estimates. Objective:We construct a life table series for Costa Rica to assess the quality of national demographic statistics for the period 1950-2013 and to determine whether reliable mortality estimates can be directly calculated from these data. Methods:We apply the methods from the Human Mortality Database (HMD) to national statistics to construct the Costa Rica life table series without adjusting for data quality, and we validate our results through internal consistency by evaluating the plausibility of the mortality patterns and its change over time and through external consistency by comparing our results with those from other sources. Results:Our mortality estimates for Costa Rica tend to be lower than others, especially for the period before 1970. They also produce a suspicious age pattern of mortality, with low adult and old-age mortality relative to the infant and child mortality, casting doubt on the quality of national demographic data. Conclusions:Other organizations have produced mortality estimates for Costa Rica that are higher than our unadjusted estimates, but it is difficult to evaluate the accuracy of the available estimates. Contribution:This analysis provides a more thorough evaluation of data quality issues regarding Costa Rica mortality than previously available. Unadjusted life tables by sex for 1950-2013 are included as supplemental material, together with the raw data upon which those life tables are based and with links to the detailed methods protocol implemented.

SUBMITTER: Glei DA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6544445 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Costa Rican Mortality 1950-2013: An Evaluation of Data Quality and Trends Compared with Other Countries.

Glei Dana A DA Barbieri Magali M Santamaría-Ulloa Carolina C

Demographic research 20190101

<h4>Background</h4>Mortality estimates from various sources suggest that Costa Ricans experience record-high life expectancy at birth in Latin America and higher longevity than the populations of many high-income countries, although there is some uncertainty as to the reliability of those estimates.<h4>Objective</h4>We construct a life table series for Costa Rica to assess the quality of national demographic statistics for the period 1950-2013 and to determine whether reliable mortality estimate ...[more]

PMID: 31156333

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Project description:INTRODUCTION:The smoking epidemic greatly affected mortality levels and trends, especially among men in low-mortality countries. The objective of this article was to examine similarities and differences between sexes and low-mortality countries in the mortality imprint of the smoking epidemic. This will provide important additions to the smoking epidemic model, but also improve our understanding of the differential impact of the smoking epidemic, and provide insights into its future impact. METHODS:Using lung-cancer mortality data for 30 European and four North American or Australasian countries, smoking-attributable mortality fractions (SAMF) by sex, age (35-99), and year (1950-2014) were indirectly estimated. The timing and level of the peak in SAMF35-99, estimated using weighting and smoothing, were compared. RESULTS:Among men in all countries except Bulgaria, a clear wave pattern was observed, with SAMF35-99 peaking, on average, at 33.4% in 1986. Eastern European men experienced the highest (40%) and Swedish men the lowest (16%) peak. Among women, SAMF35-99 peaked, on average, at 18.1% in 2007 in the North American/Australasian countries and five Northwestern European countries, and increased, on average, to 7.5% in 2014 in the remaining countries (4% in Southern and Eastern Europe). The average sex difference in the peak is at least 25.6 years in its timing and at most 22.9 percentage points in its level. CONCLUSIONS:Although the progression of smoking-attributable mortality in low-mortality countries was similar, there are important unexpected sex and country differences in the maximum mortality impact of the smoking epidemic driven by cross-country differences in economic, political, and emancipatory progress. IMPLICATIONS:The formal, systematic, and comprehensive analysis of similarities and differences between sexes and 34 low-mortality countries in long-term time trends (1950-2014) in smoking-attributable mortality provided important additions to the Global Burden of Disease study and the descriptive smoking epidemic model (Lopez et al.). Despite a general increase followed by a decline, the timing of the maximum mortality impact differs more between sexes than previously anticipated, but less between regions. The maximum mortality impact among men differs considerably between countries. The observed substantial diversity warrants country-specific tobacco control interventions and increased attention to the current or expected higher smoking-attributable mortality shares among women compared to men.

Dataset Information

Costa Rican Mortality 1950-2013: An Evaluation of Data Quality and Trends Compared with Other Countries.

Publications

Costa Rican Mortality 1950-2013: An Evaluation of Data Quality and Trends Compared with Other Countries.

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