Early Life Conditions and Cause-Specific Mortality in Finland

Irma T. Elo, University of Pennsylvania
Pekka Martikainen, University of Helsinki

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of early-life socioeconomic status, place of birth and household structure on cause-specific mortality in Finland during the latter half of the 20th century. We base the analysis on a 10% sample of households drawn from the 1950 Finnish Census of Population with the follow-up of household members in subsequent censuses and death records1970-2005. The results of the proposed project will contribute to the accumulating evidence on the associations of early-life conditions with adult mortality. The Finnish data constitute a unique register-based data set that does not rely on individual recall of early-life conditions, educational attainment, occupations and other life course trajectories.