New insights into the Far Eastern pattern of mortality

Some of the highest levels of excess mortality of males found anywhere in t he world were present in several Far Eastern populations during the 1960s a nd 1970s but have progressively disappeared since that time. This study use s cause-of-death data to determine the diseases responsible for the existen ce and attenuation of these sex differences in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Ta iwan. The results indicate that respiratory tuberculosis is the single most important underlying cause of the existence and attenuation of the pattern , that the role of liver diseases is not clear cut, and that other causes ( such as cardiovascular diseases) are also important. A review of numerous r isk factors yields no compelling reason why these populations experienced s uch large sex differences in mortality. However, it seems likely that publi c health and biomedical improvements (particularly those related to the red uction in mortality from tuberculosis) played a critical role in the attenu ation of the Far Eastern mortality pattern.