ABSTRACT
Reports on differences in disease occurrence and health-relevant characteristics between Jews and non-Jews (Mayberry and Rhodes 1984; Kune, Kune and Watson 1986), and among Jews of various ethnic origins (Kaufmann et al. 1982; Goldbourt and Kark 1982; Donchin et al. 1984; Gilat and Rozen 1979), suggest the existence of diversity in Jewish populations living in Israel and elsewhere, which may have a bearing on health-relevant behaviors and their outcome. Competing hypotheses have inferred that Israeli Jewish male: female mortality differences may relate to sociocultural factors concerning the role of women, or result from genetic characteristics particular to Jewish populations (Kark 1976; Beiran et al. 1991; Ore, et al. 1991; Neufeld and Goldbourt 1983). A lack of consistency across genetically-similar populations would support an environmental rather than genetic aetiology. While recent data on Jewish populations outside Israel are sparse, North American studies on Jewish mortality patterns have pointed to greater longevity in Jews (Spiegelman 1948), and cause-specific mortality rates, proportional mortality, and mortality patterns among men and women which differed from other ethnic and religious groups in North America (Newill 1961; King et al. 1965; Horowitz and Enterline 1970; Seidman 1871; Rosenwaike 1984; Goldstein 1986; Rosenwaike and Hempstead 1989; Rosenwaike and Hempstead 1990; Rosenwaike 1994).
