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Published on: January 7, 2013
State-level variations in racial disparities in life expectancy
Nazleen Bharmal1, Chi-Hong Tseng, Robert Kaplan
1Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Objective:
To explore state patterns in the racial life expectancy gap.
Data Sources:
The 1997-2004 Multiple Cause of Death PUF, 2000 U.S. Census.
Study Design:
We calculated life expectancy at birth for black and white men and women.
Data Extraction Methods:
Data were obtained by the NCHS and U.S. Census Bureau.
Principal Findings:
States with small racial differences are due to higher-than-expected life expectancy for blacks or lower-than-expected for whites. States with large disparity are explained by higher-than-average life expectancy among whites or lower-than-average life expectancy among blacks.
Conclusions:
Heterogeneous state patterns in racial disparity in life expectancy exist. Eliminating disparity in states with large black populations would make the greatest impact nationally.
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