Articles: mortality.
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In recent decades, there has been a rapid and substantial increase in tobacco consumption in China, particularly by men, but little is known from local epidemiologic studies about the pattern of smoking-related deaths. ⋯ Cigarette smoking is already a major cause of death in China, and among middle-aged Shanghai men, about 20% of all deaths during the 1980s were due to smoking. The excess was greatest among men who began smoking before the age of 25 years, about 47% of whom would, at 1987 mortality rates, die between the ages of 35 and 69 years (compared with only 29% of nonsmokers). These estimates reflect the consequences of past smoking patterns. The future health effects of current smoking patterns are likely to be greater because of the recent large increase in cigarette consumption, particularly at younger ages, in China.
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Most public-health assessments of climate-control policies have focused on long-term impacts of global change. Our interdisciplinary working group assesses likely short-term impacts on public health. ⋯ The mortality estimates are indicative of the magnitude of the likely health benefits of the climate-policy scenario examined and are not precise predictions of avoidable deaths. While characterized by considerable uncertainty, the short-term public-health impacts of reduced PM exposures associated with greenhouse-gas reductions are likely to be substantial even under the most conservative set of assumptions.
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The effects of maternal age on low birth weight, newborns' hospital costs and infant mortality were estimated based on individual 1989 and 1990 vital statistics records from New Jersey that were linked with uniform billing hospital discharge records. Results of multivariate analyses show a U-shaped relationship between maternal age and low birth weight among whites, with the youngest (younger than 15) and oldest (aged 40 and older) mothers being at higher risk than 25-29-year-olds; older teenagers were not at any significantly increased risk. ⋯ The multivariate analysis also showed that newborn hospitalization costs increased with maternal age among both blacks and whites. The seemingly poorer birth outcomes of teenage mothers appear to result largely from their adverse socioeconomic circumstances, not from young maternal age per se.
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This study considers how to compare programs which are designed to save lives. "To estimate the discount rate for lives saved in the future a number of studies have been carried out on the trade-off between saving lives now and in the future. A telephone survey is administered to about 1,700 individuals [in Sweden] to test if the framing of the question affects the estimated trade-off. In one sample the question is framed as saving 100 lives today versus saving x future lives and in one sample the question is framed as saving 100 future lives versus saving y lives today. The result shows that the framing has a major impact on the trade-off."
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Historical Article
Tobacco as a cause of lung cancer: some reflections.