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Women in Denmark ‐ why do they die so young? Risk factors for premature death
Author(s) -
HelwegLarsen K.,
Knudsen L.B.,
Petersson B.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 0907-2055
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2397.1998.tb00247.x
Subject(s) - life expectancy , demography , alcohol consumption , medicine , consumption (sociology) , environmental health , gerontology , population , alcohol , sociology , biochemistry , chemistry , social science
In Denmark the life expectancy of women has been declining since 1980, and is now the lowest of all OECD countries. Based upon analyses of the different trends in mortality of 35–64‐year‐old women in Denmark compared to women in Norway and Sweden, national differentials in external determinants of morbidity and premature mortality are described. The excess mortality of women in Denmark is linked to lifestyle factors: tobacco smoking, alcohol and drug consumption. We discuss the possible impact of other external factors: full‐time employment, work load, job insecurity, unemployment, single motherhood, and social isolation. The main hypothesis is that the daily life of women in Denmark has deteriorated over the years, and that changes in lifestyle and behaviour in part can be explained by evolved strategies in order to cope with anxiety and strain. Contrary to conditions in Sweden, the welfare system in Denmark has not facilitated the combination of child‐bearing and paid work. The analysis points to the importance of including data of external stressors in discussions of national variances in lifestyle factors linked to premature mortality.