Ra. Hummer et al., ADULT MORTALITY DIFFERENTIALS ASSOCIATED WITH CIGARETTE-SMOKING IN THE USA, Population research and policy review, 17(3), 1998, pp. 285-304
Although cigarette smoking has been extensively researched, surprising
little knowledge has been produced by demographers using demographic
perspectives and techniques. Thus, this paper contributes to the liter
ature by extending a demographic framework to an important behavior fo
r mortality research: cigarette smoking. In earlier works, the authors
used nationally-repnsentative data to show that cause of death patter
ns varied by smoking status and that multiple causes of death characte
rized smokers moreso than non-smokers. The present work extends previo
us analysis by estimating smoking status mortality differentials by un
derlying and multiple causes of death and by age and sex. Data from th
e 1986 National Mortality Followback Survey are related to data from t
he 1985 and 1987 National Health Interview Survey supplements to asses
s the smoking-related mortality differentials. We find that cigarette
smoking is associated with higher mortality for all population categor
ies studied, that the smoking mortality differentials vary across the
different smoking status categories and by demographic group, and that
the mortality differentials vary according to whether underlying caus
e or multiple cause patterns of death are examined. Moreover, the mult
iple cause analysis highlights otherwise obscured smoking-mortality re
lations and points to the importance of respiratory diseases and cance
rs other than lung cancer for cigarette smoking research.