A systematic literature review of studies analyzing the effect of sex, age, education, marital status, obesity and smoking on health transitions

• Main Authors: Gabriele Doblhammer, Rasmus Hoffmann, Elena Muth, Christina Westphal, Anne Kruse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research 2009-02-01
• Series: Demographic Research
• Subjects: gender; health; mortality; obesity; review; sex; smoking; systematic review; transition
• Online Access: http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol20/5/
• ISSN: 1435-9871

Sex, age, education, marital status, obesity, and smoking have been found to affect health transitions between non-disabled, disabled, and death. Our aim is to review the research literature on this topic and provide structured information, first on the availability of results for each risk factor and transition, and then on detailed study characteristics and disability measures. We use expert recommendations and the electronic databases Medline, PsycINFO, and SOCA. The search is confined to the years 1985-2005, and produced a total of 7,778 articles. Sixty-three articles met the selection criteria regarding study population, longitudinal design, risk factors, transition, and outcome measures.