Preindustrial Finnish Population Mortality and Reproductive Data

Data from seven 18th- and 19th-century Finnish populations examines early-life disease exposure, adult mortality, and reproductive success. The study quantifies exposure as the detrended child mortality rate from infectious diseases during an individual's first five years. It tests associations with later-life all-cause mortality, cause-specific death from cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer, and reproductive performance metrics.

Use Cases

• Analyze associations between detrended early-life infectious disease mortality rate and later-life all-cause mortality risk after ages 15 and 50.
• Investigate links between early-life disease exposure and probability of death from specific causes like cardiovascular disease, stroke, or cancer.
• Examine relationships between early-life disease exposure and reproductive performance metrics, including lifetime reproductive success and age at first birth.
• Model the impact of controlling for social factors on the association between childhood mortality rates and adult survival outcomes.

Strengths

• Data originates from seven distinct preindustrial populations, providing a multi-community perspective.
• Focuses on a specific historical period (18th and 19th centuries) with naturally varying mortality and fertility levels.
• Explicitly quantifies early-life disease exposure using a detrended child mortality rate from infectious diseases.
• Analyzes multiple fitness components including survival after age 15/50, cause-specific mortality, and several reproductive performance aspects.

Limitations

• Sample size and number of rows are unknown, limiting assessment of statistical power.
• Geographic scope is limited to historical Finnish populations, which may not generalize to other regions or time periods.
• Relies on historical records which may have gaps or inconsistencies in cause of death and reproductive data.

Provenance

Source

Dryad digital repository.

Collection Method

Data collected from historical records of seven 18th- and 19th-century Finnish populations.

Time Range

18th and 19th centuries.

Freshness

Last updated on 2020-06-24.

Geography

Finland.