  A MCMC approach is used to estimate the age-specific mortality rate ratio for
German men and women with RA. For constructing priors, we calculate a range of
admissible values from prevalence and incidence data based on about 60 million
people in Germany. Using these priors, MCMC mimics and compares estimated
mortality to the findings of a recent register study from Denmark. It is
estimated that the mortality rate ratio is highest in the young ages (4.0 and
3.5 for men and women aged 17.5 years, respectively) and declines towards
higher ages (1.0 and 1.2 for men and women aged 92.5 years, respectively). The
lengths of the credibility intervals decrease from younger towards older ages.
