Timothy Adair, Principal Research Fellow at the Nossal Institute, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, will deliver our second LCDS seminar of Michaelmas Term on Monday 13 October, 2:00–3:30 pm, in the Redwood Room at the Malthouse, University of Oxford.
He will speak on the topic: Australian life expectancy trends and inequalities: An outlier among English-speaking countries?
Abstract
Australia’s has one of the world’s highest life expectancies and was relatively less impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic than other countries. However, Australia is also experiencing several concerning emerging mortality trends found in other English-speaking countries; these include slowing life expectancy increase, relatively high mortality among younger adults, high obesity prevalence and widening socio-economic inequalities. This seminar will explore these emerging trends and inequalities using Census-linked death registration data, with a particular focus on the use of multiple cause of death data to understand Australia’s unique mortality dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of multimorbidity and risk factors in mortality. It will discuss the findings in comparison to other English-speaking countries and widely relevant issues of quality of cause of death data.
About the Speaker
Associate Professor Tim Adair is a demographer and Principal Research Fellow in the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. He is also an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow. Assoc Prof Adair leads a program of research that aims to advance knowledge about contemporary life expectancy trends and inequalities in Australia and internationally by strengthening the policy utility of mortality statistics. His work involves the application of innovative methods to linked data (multiple cause of death, morbidity, Census, health survey) to strengthen cause of death statistics, measure mortality from co-morbidities and leading risk factors, and quantify their socio-economic inequalities. His research program includes analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy, the role of obesity in adverse cardiovascular disease mortality trends and widening inequalities in mortality risk.