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Life Tables

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A life table is a statistical tool that summarizes the mortality and survival patterns of a population, providing detailed insights into the likelihood of survival or death across different age intervals within a cohort. By organizing data on survival probabilities and mortality rates, life tables offer a clear snapshot of population dynamics over time. They are extensively used in demography, public health, actuarial science, and ecology to analyze life expectancy, design health interventions,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Measurement of Lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster

Measurement of Lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster

Published on: January 7, 2013

Network type and mortality risk in later life.

Howard Litwin¹, Sharon Shiovitz-Ezra

¹Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905-IL, Israel. mshowie@huji.ac.il

The Gerontologist

|December 16, 2006

Summary

Social network type significantly impacts mortality risk in older adults. Diverse and friend-focused networks are linked to lower mortality, highlighting the importance of social connections in later life.

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Last Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Measurement of Lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster

Measurement of Lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster

Published on: January 7, 2013

Area of Science:

Gerontology
Social Epidemiology
Public Health

Background:

Social networks are crucial for well-being in older adults.
Understanding the relationship between social structures and health outcomes is vital for public health initiatives.
Previous research has not fully explored the impact of specific social network types on mortality risk in later life.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the association between different types of social networks and the risk of all-cause mortality over a 7-year period in older adults.
To identify which social network structures are protective against mortality in later life.

Main Methods:

Secondary analysis of a 1997 national survey of 5,055 Israeli adults aged 60+ linked to the National Death Registry (up to 2004).
Categorization of participants into six network types: diverse, friend focused, neighbor focused, family focused, community-clan, and restricted.
Cox proportional hazards regressions were used, controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors, with analyses stratified by age group (60-69, 70-79, 80+).

Main Results:

Social network type was significantly associated with mortality risk in individuals aged 70-79 and 80 and older.
Participants in diverse and friend-focused networks exhibited a lower risk of mortality.
Community-clan networks also showed a reduced mortality risk compared to restricted networks.

Conclusions:

Gerontological practitioners should assess older adults' social networks to inform client care.
The study's network type parameters can aid in developing practical assessment tools for social networks.
Interventions should be tailored to the specific social network types of elderly clients to optimize health outcomes.