Long-term trends in mortality by living arrangements and the role of socioeconomic factors, Finland 1991-2020.

Recent decades have witnessed major changes in living arrangements, potentially impacting their well-established associations with mortality. However, research considering long-term trends in these differentials is scarce. We used individual-level register data on the total Finnish population aged 30 years and over from 1991 to 2020 to examine trends in the association between living arrangements and all-cause, as well as external and alcohol-related mortality.

Changes in Chlamydia trachomatis risk before and after union formation and separation among women of reproductive age.

Background: Not having an established relationship is associated with an elevated risk of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection, but this might reflect selection into and out of unions. Although union formation and union separation are common events in reproductive age, little is known about changes in CT risk before and after these transitions.

Methods: We linked Finnish Population Register data to the National Register of Infectious Diseases and used fixed-effects linear probability models that account for all time-invariant confounders to examine changes in women's 6-month CT risk 3 years before and 3 years after entry into first cohabitation (n = 293 554), non-marital separation (n = 201 647) or marital separation (n = 92 232) during 2005-14.

Changes in parents' psychotropic medication use following child's cancer diagnosis: A fixed-effects register-study in Finland.

Background: Symptoms of depression and anxiety are elevated among parents of children with cancer. However, knowledge of parents' psychotropic medication use following child's cancer diagnosis is scarce.

Methods: We use longitudinal Finnish register data on 3266 mothers and 2687 fathers whose child (aged 0-19) was diagnosed with cancer during 2000-2016.

Changing social inequalities in smoking, obesity and cause-specific mortality: Cross-national comparisons using compass typology.

Background: In many countries smoking rates have declined and obesity rates have increased, and social inequalities in each have varied over time. At the same time, mortality has declined in most high-income countries, but gaps by educational qualification persist-at least partially due to differential smoking and obesity distributions. This study uses a compass typology to simultaneously examine the magnitude and trends in educational inequalities across multiple countries in: a) smoking and obesity; b) smoking-related mortality and c) cause-specific mortality.

The potential for reducing differences in life expectancy between educational groups in five European countries: the effects of obesity, physical inactivity and smoking.

Introduction: This study assesses the effects of obesity, physical inactivity and smoking on life expectancy (LE) differences between educational groups in five European countries in the early 2000s.

Methods: We estimate the contribution of risk factors on LE differences between educational groups using the observed risk factor distributions and under a hypothetically more optimal risk factor distribution. Data on risk factor prevalence were obtained from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe study, and data on mortality from census-linked data sets for the age between 50 and 79 according to sex and education.

Living arrangements and external causes of deaths in early adulthood.

Purpose: The mortality-lowering benefits of living in a union are well-known in the adult population, but the association between living arrangements and mortality among the young remains unclear. This study examines the association between current living arrangements and external causes of death in early adulthood, adjusting for factors such as parental socioeconomic position, current main activity, household income, and level of own education.

Methods: The study is based on annually updated longitudinal register data that include a representative 11% sample of the whole Finnish population with an over-sample of 80% of all deaths.

Chronic conditions and the risk of long-term institutionalization among older people.

Background: As the public expenditure on long-term care is likely to increase with the ageing of the population, identifying chronic medical conditions associated with the risk of long-term institutionalization is of particular interest. However, there is little systematic evidence showing how chronic medical conditions, other than dementia, affect the risk of entering into institutional care in the general older population.

Methods: We used population-based follow-up data on Finnish older people aged 65 and over (n = 280 722), to estimate the impact of different chronic conditions on the risk of long-term institutionalization.

Official marital status, cohabiting, and self-rated health-time trends in Finland, 1978-2001.

Background: Married persons are healthier and live longer than single, divorced, and widowed persons. Time trends in self-rated health (SRH) by marital status and cohabitation have remained largely unstudied. We aim to assess the levels and trends of SRH by official marital status and cohabitation, and to study the causes of these differences.