Contributions of injury deaths to the changes in sex gaps in life expectancy and life disparity in the Nordic countries in the 21st century

Objective

The objective of this study was to provide novel comparative insights on the contributions of injury deaths to the changes in sex gaps in life expectancy (SGLE) and sex gaps in life disparity (SGLD) across Nordic countries.

Study design

Retrospective demographic analysis of aggregated mortality data.

Methods

To compute life expectancy (LE)/life disparity (LD), annual data on age- and sex-specific causes of death from the World Health Organization mortality database were used to construct abridged life tables for two periods: 2000–2002 and 2016–2018 (2014–2016 for Norway). The contributions of injury deaths to the changes in the SGLE and SGLD between these two periods were decomposed by age and cause using a continuous-change model.

Results

Females’ LE and LD advantages due to injury deaths narrowed by 0.16–0.44 (0.06–0.35) years for LE (LD) over time. While self-inflicted injuries consistently played a predominant role in contributing to the SGLE/SGLD in all countries in both periods, in all countries but Finland, transport accidents had the greatest contributions to the narrowing SGLE/SGLD. Widening SGLE due to self-inflicted injuries in Iceland and due to falls in Sweden were unique to these countries. Accounting for >20% of total contributions of injury deaths, the age group of 20–24 years had the greatest contributions to the narrowing SGLE/SGLD. Deaths due to falls in older ages and assault in younger ages generally contributed to the widening SGLE/SGLD.

Conclusions

Injury deaths, particularly transport accidents, contributed significantly to the narrowing SGLE and SGLD across Nordic countries, with cross-country variations in age- and cause-specific patterns. The results suggest the need for injury prevention policies targeting self-inflicted injuries in younger and falls in older males.