Time trends in smoking in Russia in the light of recent tobacco control measures: synthesis of evidence from multiple sources.

Background: The study aims at identifying long-term trends and patterns of current smoking by age, gender, and education in Russia, including the most recent period from 2008 during which tobacco control policies were implemented, and to estimate the impact on mortality of any reductions in prevalence. We present an in-depth analysis based on an unprecedentedly large array of survey data.

Methods: We examined pooled micro-data on smoking from 17 rounds of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Study of 1996-2016, 11 other surveys conducted in Russia in 1975-2017, and two comparator surveys from England and the USA.

Trends in life expectancy and age-specific mortality in England and Wales, 1970-2016, in comparison with a set of 22 high-income countries: an analysis of vital statistics data.

Background: Since 2010, the rate of improvement in life expectancy in the UK has slowed. We aimed to put this trend in the context of changes over the long term and in relation to a group of other high-income countries.

Methods: We compared sex-specific trends in life expectancy since 1970 and age-specific mortality in England and Wales with median values for 22 high-income countries (in western Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and the USA).

Disparities in length of life across developed countries: measuring and decomposing changes over time within and between country groups.

Background: Over the past half century the global tendency for improvements in longevity has been uneven across countries. This has resulted in widening of inter-country disparities in life expectancy. Moreover, the pattern of divergence appears to be driven in part by processes at the level of country groupings defined in geopolitical terms.