The last survey for the NLS-OM was conducted in 1990 and included a mortality follow-up using records from state vital records departments;analyses of these data provided important information on how early life circumstances shaped survival into old age (e.g. Hayward and Gorman 2004;Warner and Hayward 2006);but almost 20 years of NLS-OM mortality information remains unlinked, and the comparable public use data sets for women have never been produced. Our primary goal is to update and extend this valuable resource by: 1) updating and enhancing mortality information for the NLS-OM, 2) collecting comparable mortality information for the two women's cohorts, the NLS-Mature Women (NLS-MW) and the NLS-Young Women (NLS-YW) and 3) providing expanded mortality information on date of death and exact cause of death for all three cohorts by creating restricted data sets accessible through Restricted Data Centers (RDCs). We will also validate these mortality rates by comparing the observed cumulative mortality in each of the three NLS cohorts to expected mortality based on the national life tables from the U.S. Vital Statistics and Social Security Administration. Finally, we will estimate survival models for each of the three cohorts to test whether early life SES contributes to differential survival for black and white women;we will revisit this hypothesis for racial differences in men's mortality given the significant reduction in censored cases among NLS-OM;and we will lay the groundwork for a more in depth examination of SES trajectories and race and gender disparities in health and mortality outcomes among these pivotal cohorts.
We will obtain more comprehensive information on women's mortality in terms of more complete number of deaths, more accurate age at death information, and causes of deaths for these historically important and transitional cohorts. Utilizing the rich prospective information about women's work, income, and wealth in the NLS-MW, we will be able to examine variability in SES trajectories for both white and African American women as they age. In addition, we will be able to assess how these SES trajectories influence overall mortality, as well as mortality from specific diseases such as heart disease and cancer for women of different races.
| Caputo, Jennifer; Pavalko, Eliza K; Hardy, Melissa A (2016) The Long-Term Effects of Caregiving on Women's Health and Mortality. J Marriage Fam 78:1382-1398 |
