Several INEQKILL team members presented preliminary findings at the 5th Conference Of The European Society Of Historical Demography (Radboud University Nijmegen, August 30 – September 2, 2023)
Lise Bevernaegie talked about her research on cardiovascular disease. Her paper entitled ‘Who died from cardiovascular disease? Spatial inequalities in cardiovascular mortality since 1970′ examines spatial differences in cardiovascular mortality in Belgium since the 1970s. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the largest cause of death worldwide. In 2019, strokes and heart attacks caused almost a fifth of all deaths in Belgium. Evidence on spatial inequalities in CVD mortality and their evolution is scarce and needs to be tackled. How large were spatial inequalities in CVD mortality? Did spatial disparities in- or decrease? Were there distinct CVD hot spots? Considering the diversified regional trajectories of socioeconomic development, Belgium provides an ideal case study. Based on detailed data from cause-of-death registration and censuses, mortality indicators and maps are constructed at the municipality level, using GIS and smoothing techniques. Special attention is paid to changes in the cause-of-death classification of CVD.
Philippe Paeps examines geographic variations in cancer mortality in 20th-century Belgium. In his paper entitled ‘Did it matter where you lived? Spatial inequalities in cancer mortality in 20th-century Belgium’ he explores how deeply entrenched (in)equalities in cancer mortality were. Did spatial disparities increase or decrease? And were there distinct cancer hot spots? Considering the varied regional trajectories of socioeconomic development, Belgium provides an ideal case study. Based on the ‘Mouvement de l’état civil et de la Population’ and population censuses, cancer mortality indicators and maps are constructed for 1909-11, 1929-31, 1946-8, 1969-71, and 1990-92, using a tailored historical GIS and smoothing techniques. Special attention is paid to changes in registration practices, such as the effect of confidentiality on the quality of reporting cancer deaths. Careful evaluation is also ensured through comparisons with mortality by old age and by unknown causes.
Philippe’s Bocquier presented the INEQKILL team’s research about ‘The Role of Diffusion in the Mortality Transition across Belgium (1841-1950)’. The team uses a modeling approach to reconstruct a series of standardized crude death rates series from 1841 to 1950 for all municipalities in Belgium (2500+) that accounts for year-to-year variations, using municipalities’ age structures categorized into three large age groups. Subsequently, they conducted an analysis to investigate the factors that influence the standardized mortality ratio on a subset of 2165 municipalities in the years 1851-1915 for which data on these factors are available. These encompass literacy, population density and size, economic inequality (measured by cadastral income), and location (arrondissement level). This analysis has led to the identification of a shift from an urban penalty to an urban advantage during the 19th century.
