Total and Cause-Specific Mortality Rates Before and During the Greek Economic Crisis: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis

Background: In recent years, Greece has been in the spotlight as one of the countries hit the hardest by the European financial crisis. Yet evidence on the impact of the crisis on total and cause-specific mortality remains unclear. The paper explores whether the economic crisis has interrupted the level and/or the trend of mortality rates. Methods: We use regional panel data for the period 2001-2013 and adopt an interrupted time-series approach in order to test for any changes in a series of gender, age and cause-specific mortality trends. Findings: Our results show that overall mortality has continued to decline during the years of the financial crisis but at a slower pace (-0∙13 vs. -0∙065) and the trend difference is statistically significant (0∙062, p<0∙001). The trend difference is more evident for women (0∙087, p<0∙001) than for men (0∙040, p