The fall and rise of US inequities in premature mortality: 1960-2002.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Debates exist as to whether, as overall population health improves, the absolute and relative magnitude of income- and race/ethnicity-related health disparities necessarily increase-or decrease. We accordingly decided to test the hypothesis that health inequities widen-or shrink-in a context of declining mortality rates, by examining annual US mortality data over a 42 year period.

Methods and findings

Using US county mortality data from 1960-2002 and county median family income data from the 1960-2000 decennial censuses, we analyzed the rates of premature mortality (deaths among persons under age 65) and infant death (deaths among persons under age 1) by quintiles of county median family income weighted by county population size. Between 1960 and 2002, as US prema

SUBMITTER: Krieger N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2253609 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature