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Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

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Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#41
post #2

I saw all the doom and gloom tweets, but didn't realize most of the cause boils down to policy decisions. Call your elected officials and tell them you don't want to die an avoidable early death.

Exactly, I'll tell them I want restrictions on guns, more speed limit enforcement, universal healthcar....oh you were trying to be sarcastic

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#42
post #19

Nobody has explicitly connected the other damning life expectancy visualisation on Twitter yet, so it’s worth linking to it: https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1641799627128143873?... The difference in life expectancy between the UK and the US is mostly down to young Americans dying from guns, drugs, and cars; my guess is much of the differences within the US are attributable to the same factors.

These sorts of charts are meaningless without being broken down by race.

I did a quick search for "US Mortality Rate by Race" and I found CDC documents showing that African Americans have roughly 35% higher age-adjusted mortality than non-Hispanic Whites [0], and have on average 7 year shorter life expectancy at birth [1].

When people show maps where the American South has seemingly worse outcomes than the rest of the country, it's important to remember that the demographic makeup is totally different.

[0]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db456.pdf page 2 [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr71/nvsr71-01.pdf page 2

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#43
post #29
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, what else could be the cause? One way or another, it'll come down to some insane policy decision or other. And this "states vs federal" power struggle in America (not my country) basically guarantees that there will be variance across states. The division of powers made sense in the old days, but in today's day and age it's crazy that there are not more standards set across the board at the federal level. It'…

The problem with federal standards is getting everyone to agree. If state standards aren’t allowed and California wants tougher environmental standards on California land, but Texas doesn’t, you force a showdown, a loser, and simmering resentment for decades.

[deleted]

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#44
post #17

Rio Grande Valley (one of poor regions in US) has similar life expectancy as Northern Burbs of DFW while beating Dallas and Tarrant county. Need to take a deeper look at the data. Could be access to medical facilities in Mexico border towns - that would be some fascinating data. Looks like the data is pulled from here - https://ghdx.healthdata.org/about-ghdx/ghdx-records-explaine...

Hispanics live longer than white people, who live longer than black people (look at the Black Belt).

It's hard to simply blame economics when some very poor Hispanic regions outlive some wealthy black/white ones.

I'm not versed enough to know whether race itself plays any significant roles, or if it's more cultural, but it's certainly eye opening as a factor.

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#45
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“You made your bed, now lay in it” is neither constructive nor effective in changing minds.

No one is saying that. This would be a good retort if anyone was proposing that the South actually lay in its own bed. I have never heard any proposal from the patronizing coastal elites to cut off funding for Southern welfare states.

“The South ties its wagon to the wrong horse year in and year out. No one forces them to do that.”

. . .

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#46
post #19

Nobody has explicitly connected the other damning life expectancy visualisation on Twitter yet, so it’s worth linking to it: https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1641799627128143873?... The difference in life expectancy between the UK and the US is mostly down to young Americans dying from guns, drugs, and cars; my guess is much of the differences within the US are attributable to the same factors.

These sorts of charts are meaningless without being broken down by race. I did a quick search for "US Mortality Rate by Race" and I found CDC documents showing that African Americans have roughly 35% higher age-adjusted mortality than non-Hispanic Whites [0], and have on average 7 year shorter life expectancy at birth [1]. When people show maps where the American South has seemingly worse outcomes than the rest of th…

The article explains that the result holds when controlling for race (and income, and education).

Yes, there are racial disparities in life expectancy.

Still, people of all races in the US are behind their European counterparts in life expectancy.

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#47
post #34
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When everyone sh*ts on your culture 24/7/365 for decades and decades, it gets pretty hard to separate the condescension from the genuinely good advice.

Consider what are the predominant themes were in white southern culture 60 years ago. They never really let go of it.

I guess they’re getting what they deserve then, eh?

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#48
post #38

One thing that also should be pointed out is the race gap in medical outcomes. When you look at the statistics Black Americans face a higher risk of stroke, heart attacks, cancer mortality, infant mortality, maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, pneumonia, etc. In almost every leading cause of mortality in the United States there is a significant gap between Native Americans and Black Americans and the rest of the…

The article explains that the gap still exists, even after controlling for race.

Yes, white women in the US will live (much) longer than black men on average. Yet their UK counterparts will live longer still.

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#49
post #19

Nobody has explicitly connected the other damning life expectancy visualisation on Twitter yet, so it’s worth linking to it: https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1641799627128143873?... The difference in life expectancy between the UK and the US is mostly down to young Americans dying from guns, drugs, and cars; my guess is much of the differences within the US are attributable to the same factors.

These sorts of charts are meaningless without being broken down by race. I did a quick search for "US Mortality Rate by Race" and I found CDC documents showing that African Americans have roughly 35% higher age-adjusted mortality than non-Hispanic Whites [0], and have on average 7 year shorter life expectancy at birth [1]. When people show maps where the American South has seemingly worse outcomes than the rest of th…

> These sorts of charts are meaningless without being broken down by race.

I see the exact opposite: the data you showed is meaningless without being broken down by income.

The "life expectancy vs income" chart works similarly in almost all countries, including single-ethnicity countries. So it's clearly something.

But the race one you showed is not income-adjusted. It's well known Black people in the US on average is poorer than, say, White people. It's totally possible (with full data, it's easy to do statistical analysis) their low life expectancy is largely due to poverty.

Re: Life expectancy in the U.S. varies greatly by region

#50

Wow. I knew of course that there was a spread to the average, but I never imagined there were such large swaths of the country that never even make it to full retirement age.

Remember this when they say they want to raise the retirement age.

Is it reasonable to raise the retirement age in California (where people live longer) and lower it in Texas where they don’t live quite such a long life? It feels off, I think, people will then move to Texas because they can retire earlier.
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