Determinants of Mortality – Findings of the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP)

Thomas Salzmann, Rostock University

This study analysis the effects of medical, social, environmental, and behaviourally health factors on individual mortality risk, using for the first time the information from the prospective Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Pomerania is a region in the northeast of Germany. The SHIP is one of the very few prospective studies (including a mortality follow-up) in Germany and the only one within the territory of the former GDR. Between 1997 and 2001 a population based random sample of 7,006 men and women aged 20 to 79 years was drawn, followed by a second survey during the years 2001 to 2005. The SHIP includes medical examination, health-related interview, and a health-risk-related questionnaire. Mortality follow-up information are available for all persons of the initial sample (n = 7,006). A second objective is to test the representativeness of the SHIP-sample regarding on the observed mortality for the basic sample population of Pomerania.