ArticleEuropean journal of public health2015
The impact of smoking on gender differences in life expectancy: more heterogeneous than often stated.
Article in European journal of public health, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Causes of death contributions to the sex gaps in life expectancy: evidence by education levels from Australia.BMC public health · 2026Article
- The Gender Gap in Life Expectancy in the United States and Deaths of Despair: Trends from 1979 to 2022.Population and development review · 2025Article
- Gender Disparities in Blood Pressure and the Role of Body Mass Index: A Birth Cohort Analysis in China.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2023Article
- Ideal cardiovascular health metrics and life expectancy free of cardiovascular diseases: a prospective cohort study.The EPMA journal · 2023Article
- Slowdown in Mortality Improvement in the Past Decade: A US/UK Comparison.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Review
- The Gender Gap in Life Expectancy in Urban and Rural China, 2013-2018.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- The combined impact of smoking, obesity and alcohol on life-expectancy trends in Europe.International journal of epidemiology · 2021Article
- Socioeconomic inequalities in lung cancer - a time trend analysis with German health insurance data.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Medical mortality in an emergency department in Nigeria: the transition is obvious!African health sciences · 2021Article
- The Role of Smoking in Country Differences in Life Expectancy Across Europe, 1985-2014.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2021Article
- Do Women with Diabetes Need More Intensive Action for Cardiovascular Reduction than Men with Diabetes?Current diabetes reports · 2020Review
- Changing contribution of smoking to the sex differences in life expectancy in Europe, 1950-2014.European journal of epidemiology · 2020Article
- Similarities and Differences Between Sexes and Countries in the Mortality Imprint of the Smoking Epidemic in 34 Low-Mortality Countries, 1950-2014.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2020Article
- Compression, expansion, or maybe both? Growing inequalities in lung cancer in Germany.PloS one · 2020Article
- Sex disparities in premature adult mortality in Estonia 1995-2016: a national register-based study.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Avoidable Cancer Mortality in Germany Since Reunification: Regional Variation and Sex Differences.Frontiers in public health · 2019Article
- Sex gap in aging and longevity: can sex chromosomes play a role?Biology of sex differences · 2018Review
- Why is the gender gap in life expectancy decreasing? The impact of age- and cause-specific mortality in Sweden 1997-2014.International journal of public health · 2018Article
- Article
- Life Course Changes in Smoking by Gender and Education: A Cohort Comparison Across France and the United States.Population research and policy review · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThroughout industrialized countries, tobacco consumption is seen as the predominant driver of both the trend and the extent of gender differences in life expectancy. However, several factors raise doubts to this generalization. We hypothesize that the impact of smoking on the gender gap is context-specific and differs between populations.
methodsWe decompose the gender differences in life expectancy into fractions caused by smoking and other non-biological factors for 53 industrialized countries and the period 1955-2009 to assess the significance of smoking among the causes that can be influenced by direct or indirect interference.
resultsThe trend of the gender gap can indeed be attributed to smoking in most populations of the western world. However, with regard to the overall extent of male excess mortality, smoking is the main driver only in the minority of the studied populations. While the impact of smoking to gender differences in life expectancy declines in all populations, the contribution of other non-biological factors is in most cases higher at the end than at the beginning of the observation period.
conclusionsOver-generalized statements suggesting that smoking is the main driver of the gender gap in all populations can be misleading. The results of this study demonstrate that-regardless of the prevailing effect of smoking-many populations have still remarkable potentials to further narrow their gender gaps in life expectancy. Although measures to further reduce the prevalence of tobacco consumption must be continued, more attention should be directed to the growing importance of other non-biological factors.
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