The Demography and Epidemiology of Human Health and Aging

With this book, Siegel, an internationally known demographer and gerontologist, has made a unique contribution to the fledgling fields of health demography, and the demography and epidemiology of aging. The book represents a felicitous union of epidemiology, gerontology, and demography, and appears to be  the first and only comprehensive text on this subject now available. Drawing on a wide range of sciences in addition to demography, gerontology, and epidemiology, including medical sociology, biostatistics, public policy, bioethics, and molecular biology, the author treats theoretical and applied issues, links methods and findings, covers the material internationally, nationally, and locally, and while focusing on the elderly, treats the entire life course. The methods, materials, and pespectives of demography and epidemiology are brought to bear on such topics as the prospects for future increases in human longevity, the relative contribution of life style, environment, genetics, and chance in human longevity, the measurement of the share of  healthy years in total life expectancy, the role of population growth in the rising costs of health care, and the applications of health demography in serving the health needs of local communities. The separate chapters systematically develop the topics of the sources and quality of health data; mortality, life tables, and the measurement of health status; the  interrelationships of health, on the one hand, and mortality, fertility, migration, and age structure, on the other; health conditions in the less developed countries; the concepts and theories of aging and projections of the aged population; and local health applications, public health policy, and bioethical issues in health demography. Given its comprehensiveness, clarity, interdisciplinary scope, and authencity, this book appeals to a wide range of users, from students and teachers of medical sociology, the demography of aging, and public health studiesto practitioners in these areas, both as a text in health demography and the demography/epidemiology of aging, and as a reference work in these fields.

Preface and Acknowledgments .- Part I. Scope of Health Demography, Sources, and Quality of Data: 1. Introduction.- 2. Sources and Quality of Data for Mortality and Health Studies.- Part II. Concepts and Measures of Mortality and Morbidity.- 3. Concepts and Basic Measures of Mortality.- 4. The Life Table.- 5. Measures of Health Status, Functioning, and Use of Health Services.- Part III. Mortality and Morbidity Considered Jointly and in Relation to Fertility, Migration, and Population Age-Sex Structure.- 6. Health Inequalities, General Trends in Mortality and Morbidity, and Associated Factors.- 7. Demographic and Socioeconomic Group Differences in Morbidity and Mortality.- 8. Gauging Population Health: Measures Linking Mortality and Morbidity.- 9. Reproductive Health.- 10. Health and Migration.-11. Special Health Issues in Less Developed Countries.- 12. Interrelations of Health, Mortality, and Age Structure.- Part IV. Theories of Aging and Longevity and Projections of Mortality and Health.- 13. Concepts and Theories of Longevity.- 14. Models of Aging, Health, and Mortality, and Mortality/Health Projections.- Part V. Applications to Health Policy and Health Administration.- 15. Health Policy.- 16. Applied Health Demography.- Chapter 17. Some Ethical and Legal Aspects of Health Demography.- Appendixes.- A.1. Selected List of Journals in the English Language for the Study of Health Demography.- A.2. General Internet Sources of Data on Health Demography.- B. Review of General Analytic Devices and Special Survey Methods.- C. Glossary.- D. Classifications of Countries and Regions.- E. List of Abbreviations and Acronyms.- Subject Index