We propose data production to expand, enhance, and harmonize a new, recently disseminated, publicly accessible but still incomplete database for Latin American mortality (LAMBdA). Currently the data base contains about 400 life tables documenting close to 170 hundred years of mortality for 19 countries (see webLAMBdA). We propose to (a) collect missing raw data to complete the series beginning in 1820 and update the database as needed, (b) formulate new methods and fine-tune those already implemented to enrich the database with multiple mortality estimates per country-year, (c) introduce adjusted cause of death information and associated cause-specific life tables (d) extend life tables in single years of age up to 100; (e) use mixed methods to construct cohorts life tables; and (f) harmonize LAMBdA with other mortality data. The final product will be a database ready for use in comparative mortality analyses, estimation of old age mortality models, fine-tuned population projections and forecasts, and to study the evolution of longevity in a region with a singular history of mortality decline and currently experiencing demographic aging of unprecedented speed. We also propose data analyses on LAMBdA (and other databases) to test both standard and new theories of old age mortality and longevity. To do so we use the enriched version of LAMBdA (and other databases) to estimate a broad spectrum of statistics that inform trajectories of old age mortality, to estimate new model life table patterns, to formulate new formal models of old age mortality and test their predictions and, finally, to develop and employ a platform for statistical inference about mortality including multiple estimates and assessment of associated levels of uncertainty. The analyses will shed light on processes that could improve (worsen) the course of longevity in countries with adverse economic, social, and institutional conditions. These analyses will complement and extend those carried out in high income countries and will improve our understanding of trajectories of human longevity. 1Acronyms used throughout the text: LAMBdA: Latin American Mortality Database
The proposed research complements past my own extensive research on mortality and longevity in low to middle income countries. It contributes by significantly augmenting and enriching the available information on human mortality experiences. It also contributes theoretically and methodologically by pursuing novel approaches to the study of old age mortality and senescence in countries with adverse social, economic and institutional conditions.
| Palloni, Alberto; Beltrán-Sánchez, Hiram; Aguirre, Guido Pinto (2017) [Uncertainty of mortality estimators and hypothesis testing: the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1850-2010]. Notas Poblacion 44:13-32 |
| Beltrán-Sánchez, Hiram; Pebley, Anne; Goldman, Noreen (2017) Links between Primary Occupation and Functional Limitations among Older Adults in Mexico. SSM Popul Health 3:382-392 |
| Wong, Rebeca; Michaels-Obregon, Alejandra; Palloni, Alberto (2017) Cohort Profile: The Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS). Int J Epidemiol 46:e2 |
| Palloni, Alberto; Beltrán-Sánchez, Hiram (2017) Discrete Barker Frailty and Warped Mortality Dynamics at Older Ages. Demography 54:655-671 |
| Beltrán-Sánchez, Hiram; Palloni, Alberto; Riosmena, Fernando et al. (2016) SES Gradients Among Mexicans in the United States and in Mexico: A New Twist to the Hispanic Paradox? Demography 53:1555-1581 |
