Long-term trends in adult mortality for U.S. Blacks and Whites: an examination of period- and cohort-based changes.

ABSTRACT: Black-white differences in U.S. adult mortality have narrowed over the past five decades, but whether this narrowing unfolded on a period or cohort basis is unclear. The distinction has important implications for understanding the socioeconomic, public health, lifestyle, and medical mechanisms responsible for this narrowing. We use data from 1959 to 2009 and age-period-cohort (APC) models to examine period- and cohort-based changes in adult mortality for U.S. blacks and whites. We do so for all-cause mortality among persons aged 15-74 as well as for several underlying causes of death more pertinent for specific age groups. We find clear patterns of cohort-based reductions in mortality for both black men and women and white men and women. Recent cohort-based reductions in heart disease, str

SUBMITTER: Masters RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4420626 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature