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Science Falling women lifespans in Deep South, Appalachia, lower Midwest
Science Falling women lifespans in Deep South, Appalachia, lower Midwest | Falling women lifespans in Deep South, Appalachia, lower Midwest |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Wednesday, 23 April 2008 | |
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Science DiscussionsIn addition to these 180 counties, women in another 783 counties showed no measurable increase in life spans. In all, about twelve percent of the women in the United States (in nearly 1,000 counties) have a lower-to-equal life expectancy in 1999 when compared to their life spans sixteen years earlier, in 1983. The locations of these almost 1,000 counties include the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, in Appalachia, and the southern part of the Midwest and into Texas (but also a number of counties in the Rocky Mountain area and the Four Corners region; and one county in Maine). The study, performed by researchers from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the University of California at San Francisco; and the University of Washington at Seattle, found that these nearly one thousand counties in the United States were primarily low-income and rural areas. The scientists looked at mortality statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics and population data from the U.S. Census Bureau between the years 1961 and 1999. To perform the study, they divided the country into 2,068 units, where units might contain a city, a county, or several counties. They looked into possible deviations from migrations in and out of counties, but found no reason that such movements would adversely affect their conclusions. In the first half of the time span, from 1961 to 1983, life expectancies went up across the country for both men and women in all counties whether they were considered low, medium, or high income counties and whether they were considered rural or urban, or anywhere in between. The researchers contribute this increase in longevity to people minimizing risky behaviors such as smoking, hypertension, and high cholesterol—which are all related to risks to cardiovascular health. They also contributed increased life spans to better medical care, surgical procedures, and medicines. Most of the improvement in life spans during this 21-year span of time was contributable to reduced risk from heart disease and, thus, heart attacks. However, between 1983 and 1999, women were divided in their life span statistics depending on where they lived in the country. It was not divided due to race or ethnicity, only to location in the country. How much did life spans go down for women in low income and rural areas? Read on. |
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