All-cause mortality
Death from any cause. The papers count a recorded death, whatever the certificate names.
Registries and death certificates code a cause. The variable here is the fact of death. Heart disease, cancer, and liver failure all count. A page that only follows one disease is a narrower count. Nothing here is medical advice.
Also called all-cause death, all-cause mortality, premature death.
Connected relationships
Mendelian randomization · Moderate
Alcohol intake→All-cause mortality
Higher Alcohol intake increases All-cause mortality.
Kassaw 2024 found a linear Mendelian randomization rise in all-cause death with genetically predicted alcohol in 278,093 white-British UK Biobank adults: odds ratio 1.27 (1.16 to 1.39) per extra 8 grams a day.
Meta-analysis · Low
Caffeine intake→All-cause mortality
Higher Caffeine intake moves All-cause mortality in a non-linear way. Dose or timing can flip the sign.
Li 2020 pooled 21 cohort articles (10,103,115 people, 240,303 deaths) and found a nonlinear inverse between coffee and all-cause death: three cups a day against none or rare sat at relative risk 0.87 (0.84 to 0.89). Tsujimoto 2017 saw the same U in caffeine milligrams. Nobody assigned a dose.
Observational · Low
Aerobic exercise→All-cause mortality
Higher Aerobic exercise decreases All-cause mortality.
Martinez-Gomez 2024 pooled 2,011,186 adults in four megacohorts and found that meeting recommended leisure-time activity tracked a 22 percent lower all-cause death rate (hazard ratio 0.78, 0.77 to 0.79). Nobody randomized walking against death.
Randomized trial · Moderate
GLP-1 receptor agonist→All-cause mortality
Higher GLP-1 receptor agonist decreases All-cause mortality.
In SELECT, weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg cut death from any cause versus placebo in 17,604 adults with overweight or obesity and established heart disease (hazard ratio 0.81; Lincoff 2023). Daily liraglutide did the same in type 2 diabetes (Marso 2016).
Meta-analysis · Low
Loneliness→All-cause mortality
Higher Loneliness increases All-cause mortality.
Wang 2023 pooled 90 prospective cohorts in 2,205,199 adults and found loneliness associated with a 14 percent higher all-cause death risk (effect size 1.14, 1.08 to 1.20). Nobody randomized loneliness.
Observational · Low
Ambient air pollution→All-cause mortality
Higher Ambient air pollution increases All-cause mortality.
Hao 2023's Medicare cohort of about 73.4 million adults 65 and older found a 4.0 percent higher all-cause death rate per 3.68 µg/m³ of annual PM2.5 (HR 1.040, 1.039 to 1.041). Nobody randomized the air.
Meta-analysis · Low
Sleep duration and regularity→All-cause mortality
Higher Sleep duration and regularity moves All-cause mortality in a non-linear way. Dose or timing can flip the sign.
Yin 2018's dose-response meta of prospective cohorts found a U-shaped link between hours of sleep and all-cause death: each hour under 7 tracked a 6 percent higher risk, and each hour over 7 tracked 13 percent. Nobody randomized time in bed.
Mendelian randomization · Contested
25-hydroxyvitamin D→All-cause mortality
Higher 25-hydroxyvitamin D moves All-cause mortality in a non-linear way. Dose or timing can flip the sign.
Sutherland 2022 found an L-shaped Mendelian randomization link between genetically predicted 25(OH)D and all-cause death in 307,601 white-European UK Biobank adults, with risk falling until about 50 nmol/L, while Trummer 2013 and Ong 2019 found no linear genetic effect.
Observational · Low
Widowhood→All-cause mortality
Higher Widowhood increases All-cause mortality.
In 373,189 elderly US couples followed from 1993 to 2002, a wife's death sat with 18 percent higher all-cause death hazard in the husband (HR 1.18, 1.16 to 1.19) and a husband's death sat with 16 percent in the wife (HR 1.16, 1.14 to 1.17). Nobody assigned widowhood.
Sources
- NA Kassaw et al. (2024). Alcohol consumption and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality-a linear and nonlinear Mendelian randomization study.
- Q Li et al. (2020). Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption and risk of all-cause mortality: a dose-response meta-analysis of cohort studies.
- E Lopez-Garcia et al. (2008). The relationship of coffee consumption with mortality.
- B Zhou et al. (2025). Coffee Consumption and Mortality among United States Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study.
- T Tsujimoto et al. (2017). Association Between Caffeine Intake and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Population-Based Prospective Cohort Study.
- D Martinez-Gomez et al. (2024). Physical Activity and All-Cause Mortality by Age in 4 Multinational Megacohorts.
- U Ekelund et al. (2016). Does physical activity attenuate, or even eliminate, the detrimental association of sitting time with mortality? A harmonised meta-analysis of data from more than 1 million men and women.
- M Zhao et al. (2020). Recommended physical activity and all cause and cause specific mortality in US adults: prospective cohort study.
- DH Lee et al. (2022). Long-Term Leisure-Time Physical Activity Intensity and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Cohort of US Adults.
- Q Chang et al. (2024). Replacement of sedentary behavior with various physical activities and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality.
- H Feng et al. (2023). Associations of timing of physical activity with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a prospective cohort study.
- E Stamatakis et al. (2020). Sitting Time, Physical Activity, and Risk of Mortality in Adults.
- AM Lincoff et al. (2023). Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes.
- SP Marso et al. (2016). Liraglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes.
- F Wang et al. (2023). A systematic review and meta-analysis of 90 cohort studies of social isolation, loneliness and mortality.
- A Nakou et al. (2025). Loneliness, social isolation, and living alone: a comprehensive systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of mortality risks in older adults.