The role of smoking in the explanation of the Israeli Jewish pattern of sex differentials in mortality

Abstract

The difference in life expectancy between women and men among Israeli Jews is very low relative to the difference in other developed countries, and the reasons for this are not fully understood. This paper explores the contribution of smoking to the observed patterns of sex-specific mortality among Israeli Jews, and to the sex difference in mortality exhibited by this population. The results show that the mortality of Israeli Jewish men is low owing to the relatively weak impact of smoking-related mortality, and that this also contributes to an explanation of the small sex difference. The result is explained by the high level of health-protective behaviour of Israeli Jewish men, including a low intensity of smoking (though not a low prevalence). The findings could have implications for some debates on the determinants of divergences and convergences in mortality, and research into the relationship between mortality and the Mediterranean diet.

Keywords:

• sex differentials
• mortality
• smoking
• Jews
• Israel

Notes

1. Laura Staetsky is at RAND Europe, Westbrook Centre, Cambridge CB4 1YG, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

2. This paper was drafted while the author was at the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton.

3. The author is very grateful for the generous help received from Dr Andrew Hinde in the preparation of this paper, and would also like to thank Professor Máire Ní Bhrolcháin for her helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript, and three anonymous reviewers for their good advice. Financial support from the following is gratefully acknowledged: Overseas Research Student Award Scheme (funded by the UK higher education bodies); B'nai B'rith Scholarship, Leo Baeck (London) Lodge; Kenneth Lindsay Scholarship Grant (Anglo-Israel Association).