Eight Americas: investigating mortality disparities across races, counties, and race-counties in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The gap between the highest and lowest life expectancies for race-county combinations in the United States is over 35 y. We divided the race-county combinations of the US population into eight distinct groups, referred to as the "eight Americas," to explore the causes of the disparities that can inform specific public health intervention policies and programs.

Methods and findings

The eight Americas were defined based on race, location of the county of residence, population density, race-specific county-level per capita income, and cumulative homicide rate. Data sources for population and mortality figures were the Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics. We estimated life expectancy, the risk of mortality from specific diseases, health

SUBMITTER: Murray CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1564165 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature