BACKGROUND
Many studies have observed that religion plays an important role in determining inequalities in mortality outcomes before the mortality decline in late 19th century Europe. Yet, it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly caused the mortality advantage observed for Jewish populations before the start of the demographic transition.

OBJECTIVE
To explore an alternative approach to the observed Jewish mortality advantage by comparing differences and similarities in various cause-specific mortality rates in Amsterdam’s 50 neighbourhoods in the mid-19th century.

RESULTS
Jewish neighbourhoods had an overall mortality advantage, which was reflected in lower infant, respiratory, diarrhoeal, and smallpox death rates. Only in the cholera epidemic did the Jewish neighbourhoods not experience this health advantage.

CONCLUSIONS
Before the mortality decline, individual (and community) behaviours could already have been having an important impact on inequalities in health, although not for all diseases.



中文翻译：

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探索 19 世纪中叶阿姆斯特丹犹太社区的死亡率优势（Tim Riswick、Sanne Muurling、Katalin Buzasi）

背景
许多研究已经观察到，在 19 世纪晚期欧洲死亡率下降之前，宗教在确定死亡率结果的不平等方面发挥着重要作用。然而，很难确定究竟是什么导致了在人口转变开始之前观察到的犹太人口的死亡率优势。

目的
通过比较 19 世纪中叶阿姆斯特丹 50 个社区的各种原因特异性死亡率的差异和相似性，探索观察到的犹太人死亡率优势的替代方法。

结果
犹太社区具有总体死亡率优势，这反映在较低的婴儿、呼吸道、腹泻和天花死亡率上。只有在霍乱流行期间，犹太社区才没有体验到这种健康优势。

结论
在死亡率下降之前，个人（和社区）行为可能已经对健康不平等产生了重要影响，尽管并非对所有疾病都如此。