[silentplummet]

Something else those countries have (to varying extent) is strong public transportation and an ancient and coherent food culture, which has helped them resist the epidemic of obesity and diabetes we are suffering in the US. Does your book address this?

[DennisP]

Those sorts of things affect disease incidence rates but not "death rates after diagnosis of major disease."

And Japan, for example, has an aging population of heavy smokers.