Table 4.

Contribution of Smoking to Widening Educational Differences in Life Expectancy at Age 50, Non-Hispanic White Men and Women, National Longitudinal Mortality Study and National Health Interview Survey, 1980s-2006

	Men
	Change In Education Mortality Gap Between Period and 2003-2006		Contribution of Smoking to Change in Education Mortality Gap
Period	With Smoking (A)	Without Smoking (B)	A-B	(A-B)/A
1980s	1.1	1.2	−.1	−8%
1986-94	1.2	1.6	−.5	−41%
1995-98	.8	.5	.3	33%
1999-02	.5	.6	−.2	−35%
	Women
	Change In Education Mortality Gap Between Period and 2003-2006		Contribution of Smoking to Change in Education Mortality Gap
Period	With Smoking (A)	Without Smoking (B)	A-B	(A-B)/A
1980s	2.1	1.6	.5	24%
1986-94	1.2	.7	.5	43%
1995-98	.8	.4	.5	55%
1999-02	.9	.4	.4	49%

Notes: Education mortality gap refers to the difference in life expectancy at age 50 between the college-educated and those with a high school education or less. With smoking refers to the gap based on observed all-cause death rates. Without smoking refers to what the gap would have been based on death rates from which smoking-attributable mortality has been removed.