The Gerontologist, Vol 35, Issue 5 597-608, Copyright © 1995 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

Sex differences in human mortality and aging at late ages: the effect of mortality selection and state dynamics

KG Manton, MA Woodbury and E Stallard
Center for Demographic Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0408, USA.

Models of gender differences in human mortality and aging depend on assumptions about temporal rates of physiological change. Simple models like the Gompertz fail to describe the mortality of either males or females at late ages. This suggests a need for biologically more detailed models to represent the age dependency of human mortality as well as gender differences in that age dependence. By modeling the sex- specific interaction of time-varying covariates with multiple dimensions of mortality selection, one can more accurately describe the age dependence of mortality and more complex physiological aging patterns. The multivariate model of aging changes is used to describe gender differences using data from (a) a longitudinal study of physiological changes and mortality and (b) a nationally representative longitudinal survey of changes in function and mortality.

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