Разликите в смъртността на двата пола — биологична съдба или начин на живот
Differences in the Mortality-rates of the Two Sexes — a Biological Fate or a Way of Life

Summary/Abstract: Having done a short historical comparative review of both sexes' mortality regimes, the author adduces a series of arguments in favor of the hypothesis that both female and male overmortality are transient phenomena depending only in a small part on biological, including genetical, factors. Argument 1: the evolution of sex difference — from female overmortality, through some kind of a balance, towards an ever rising male overmortality — follows the stages of the epidemiological transition, i. e. its duration is extremely short from the point of view of historical perspective. Argument 2: female overmortality still exists in practically all developing countries and is closely related to the neglected position of woman and female infant and child in the society. Argument 3: following a thirty years long period of all-age male overmortality in Bulgaria, a new kind of female overmortality appeared in the age groups beyond 90, evidently not related to reproductive functions. It has persisted since mid seventies. Still no attempt for explanation of this strange fact has been published. After a brief quotation of some data on the distribution of essential risk factors in Bulgaria, the author concludes that contemporary sex differences of mortality are before all a function of life style, as mortality itself has been for centuries.

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