We used the data from the Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) Study in 1988-1990, including 22,638 men and 30,518 women who aged 40 to 64 with no medical history of cancer and cardiovascular diseases at baseline in 35 municipalities. They were followed up to determine mortality of various diseases by the end of 2005. All deaths were ascertained by death certificates from public health centers. The ICD 9th and 10th revisions were used to determine cause-specific mortality. Proportion of college graduates, per capita income, unemployment rate, per capita bank deposit, and proportion of households receiving welfare were used as indicators of regional SES. We adjusted individual SES (education level, occupation) and possible confounding variables. Gender-specific adjusted odds ratios for specific causes of deaths were estimated according to regional SES by multilevel logistic regression.