The fourth workshop of the SCOR Chair on Mortality Research took place from November 13 to14 at SCOR’s London office, marking the conclusion of the second year of this three-year project. Nine invited speakers presented their ongoing research across three thematic areas:

     1.  Trends and Geospatial Mortality
     2.  Multiple Causes of Death and Morbidities
     3.  Competing Causes of Death and Healthy Life Expectancy

Trends and Geospatial Mortality

Presentations examined how insights into the drivers of persistent excess mortality during the pandemic can improve future mortality projections, and how geographic differences in UK mortality trends can be captured at the postcode level. Additionally, a cause-of-death study highlighted the growing divergence in mortality across French departments since the 1990s, emphasizing the contribution of ill-defined causes, external causes, and neoplasms at younger ages.

Multiple Causes of Death and Morbidities

Discussions focused on multimorbidity and multiple causes of death (MCoD) data in Denmark. One study explored income-related disparities in disease associations among premature deaths, showing that these deaths stem from heterogeneous disease experiences shaped partly by income gradients in healthcare engagement and variations in treatment received. Another discussion addressed whether MCoD data accurately reflect health conditions near death. Findings suggest that while MCoD data provide valuable insights into disease interactions during the mortality process, they substantially underrepresent the true burden of chronic conditions at death.

Competing Causes of Death and Healthy Life Expectancy

Presentations emphasized not only life expectancy but also its quality in terms of health. An innovative approach assessed whether individuals from disadvantaged populations live longer—and whether those additional years are healthier. Finally, recognizing that individuals face multiple risks throughout life, where the occurrence of one may preclude others, a study estimated the probability of dying from one cause before another through pairwise comparisons among the ten leading causes of death in the U.S., Spain, and Denmark.

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