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@ARTICLE{DoblhammerReiter:164806,
author = {Doblhammer-Reiter, Gabriele and Vaupel, James W.},
title = {{L}ifespan depends on month of birth},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America},
volume = {98},
number = {5},
issn = {0027-8424},
address = {Washington, DC},
publisher = {National Acad. of Sciences},
reportid = {DZNE-2022-01257},
pages = {Pages 2934 - 2939},
year = {2001},
abstract = {Month of birth influences adult life expectancy at ages
50+. Why? In two countries of the Northern
Hemisphere–Austria and Denmark–people born in autumn
(October–December) live longer than those born in spring
(April–June). Data for Australia show that, in the
Southern Hemisphere, the pattern is shifted by half a year.
The lifespan pattern of British immigrants to Australia is
similar to that of Austrians and Danes and significantly
different from that of Australians. These findings are based
on population data with more than a million observations and
little or no selectivity. The differences in lifespan are
independent of the seasonal distribution of deaths and the
social differences in the seasonal distribution of births.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the excess mortality in the
first year of life of infants born in spring does not
support the explanation of selective infant survival.
Instead, remaining life expectancy at age 50 appears to
depend on factors that arise in utero or early in infancy
and that increase susceptibility to diseases later in life.
This result is consistent with the finding that, at the turn
of the last century, infants born in autumn had higher birth
weights than those born in other seasons. Furthermore,
differences in adult lifespan by month of birth decrease
over time and are significantly smaller in more recent
cohorts, which benefited from substantial improvements in
maternal and infant health.},
subtyp = {Review Article},
ddc = {500},
pnm = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353) / 345 -
Population Studies and Genetics (POF3-345)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353 / G:(DE-HGF)POF3-345},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.041431898},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/164806},
}