Life Spans In The U.S.

When U.S. life expectancy change is divided into six groups by county, patterns emerge. In group 1, life expectancy increased more than the national sex-specific mean (nssm); in group 2, life expectancy increased but did not differ from nssm; in group 3, life expectancy increased but significantly less than nssm; in group 4, change was statistically indistinguishable from zero and nssm; in group 5, there was no change but less increase than nssm; and in group 6, life expectancy declined. Southern women were most likely to lose life expectancy. Graphic courtesy of PLoS Medicine.

Reversal Of Fortune -- American Scientist

County-by-county comparison of death rates finds that lifespans dropped in some U.S. counties

As scientists from all disciplines know, where you look influences what you find.

By examining death rates county-by-county, public health researchers found that life spans, especially among women, fell in some United States counties. The numbers were small but such a reversal of fortune was, well, shocking.

"We started looking at disparity questions. This became arguably a bigger finding and a more depressing finding," said Majid Ezzati, an associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Ezzati, whose research results appeared in PLoS Medicine, is among scholars dicing and splicing mortality data to create more precise pictures of lifespan trends in the United States. The nation is not known as the life-expectancy leader in the developed world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks the life expectancy of women in the U.S. 27th globally

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