To produce cumulative estimates of children confirmed for maltreatment, we used synthetic cohort life tables,33 which were initially designed to provide estimates of life expectancy at birth and the probability of surviving to any given age from annual mortality rates. Synthetic cohort life tables can also be used to generate estimates of the proportion of individuals in a cohort who will experience an event for the first time by a given age if the age-specific risks of experiencing any event (death, marriage, maltreatment) were held at that year’s rates.33 So, for example, average life expectancy at birth in 2010 could be estimated using synthetic cohort life tables to see how long the average newborn could expect to live if they were exposed to the age-specific mortality rates in 2010 at each age. Although synthetic cohort life tables are widely used (including, for instance, to generate all Census Bureau predictions of life expectancy at birth in the U.S.), they produce the most reliable estimates when the rate of change in the age-specific rates is low and are less reliable when the rate of change in the age-specific rates is high.
