Changes in Cause-specific Mortality Trends Across Occupations in Working-age Japanese Women from 1980 to 2015: a Cross-sectional Analysis

Overview

Journal BMC Womens Health

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Gynecology & Obstetrics

Date 2022 Feb 23

PMID 35193556

Authors

Bibha Dhungel

Kuniyasu Takagi

Shijan Acharya

Koji Wada

Stuart Gilmour

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Reducing health inequalities is an important public health challenge. Many studies have examined the widening health gap by occupational class among men, but few among women. We therefore estimated variation in absolute and relative mortality by occupational category across four leading causes of mortality-cancer, ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and suicide-to explore how occupational class is associated with health among working women aged 25-64 in Japan.

Methods: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using Poisson regression analysis on each five-yearly mortality data from 1980 to 2015, obtained from the National Vital Statistics and the Japanese Population Census.

Results: There was a decreasing trend in mortality from all cancers, ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and suicide among women in all occupational groups from 1980 to 2015. Agriculture workers had higher risk of mortality than professional workers for all four causes of death. The absolute difference in mortality rates for all cancers and cerebrovascular disease was higher in 2000-2015 than 1980-1995. The mortality trend among clerks and sales workers decreased after 2000, except for suicide.

Conclusions: Mortality rates from all four causes are higher among agriculture workers compared to professional workers, and attention is needed to reduce this mortality gap. Continuous monitoring of ongoing mortality trends is essential to ensure better health and wellbeing in Japan.

Citing Articles

Occupation- and industry-specific cancer mortality among Japanese women from 1980 to 2015.

Dhungel B, Murakami T, Gilmour S, Ikeda S, Wada K BMC Public Health. 2022; 22(1):2003.

PMID: 36320013 PMC: 9628126. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-14304-4.

Difference in Mortality Rates by Occupation in Japanese Male Workers Aged 25 to 64 Years from 1980 to 2015.

Dhungel B, Murakami T, Wada K, Ikeda S, Gilmour S Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022; 19(18).

PMID: 36141600 PMC: 9517138. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191811328.

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