Age at death due to ischemic heart disease: gender differences

This paper investigates gender differences in the timing of ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality among white Americans. Three age-at-death groupings are examined, using a model incorporating three types of independent variables: lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and biology/heredity. Logistic regression techniques are used to analyze National Mortality Follow-back Survey data. Three hypotheses drawn from the literature are tested: (1) that IHD mortality risks will vary by gender and across the life course; (2) that the independent variables will exert a lower mortality risk for women than for men at all ages of death; and (3) that differential risks by gender will be larger for younger age-at-death groups. Findings support the first and third hypotheses. The importance of research on gender differentials in age at IHD mortality in relation to parental heart-attack mortality, smoking and spousal smoking, occupation, and fertility is highlighted.