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Senior Citizen Statistics
Life Expectancy Gap Narrows Between Blacks and
Whites
Gap still substantial: 6.3 years for men
and 4.5 years for women
March 21, 2007 - Reductions in the death rate from
homicide, HIV disease, unintentional injuries and - among women - heart
disease have contributed to narrowing the life expectancy gap between
blacks and whites in the United States, although substantial
inequalities and challenges remain, according to a study in the March 21
issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In 2003, the average life expectancy for blacks was
72.7 years, compared with 78 years for whites -- a historic high for
both races. The life expectancy gap between blacks and whites also
reached a historic low of 5.3 years in 2003, down from 7.1 years in
1993.
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Statistics on Senior Citizens |
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The life expectancy gap in 2003 was 4.5 years for
women and 6.3 for men.
The black-white life-expectancy gap has declined by
18% for women and by 25% for men from 1983.
Life expectancy at birth has generally been
increasing in the United States since at least the late 19th century.
For as long as data have been reported by race/ethnicity, life
expectancy of blacks has been lower than that of whites, according to
background information in the article. Since the early 1980s, the
black-white life expectancy gap increased sharply, then subsequently
declined. But the causes of these changes have not been investigated.
Sam Harper, Ph.D., of McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec, and colleagues conducted a study to determine the contribution
of specific age groups and causes of death to changes in the black-white
life expectancy gap from 1983 to 2003. They analyzed data from the U.S.
National Vital Statistics System, maintained by the National Center for
Health Statistics, which collects information on all deaths occurring in
the United States each year.
The authors report that after widening during the
late 1980s, the black-white life expectance gap has declined because of
relative mortality improvements in homicide, HIV disease, unintentional
injuries and among women, heart disease.
For females, heart disease made by far the largest
contribution to the overall life expectance gap, accounting for
● 1.4 years (28 percent) of the gap in 1983,
● 1.6 years (28 percent) in 1993, and
● 1.3 years (30 percent) in 2003.
"Other important causes of the 4.5-year gap in 2003
include diabetes (0.5 years), stroke (0.4 years), and perinatal death
(0.4 years)," the authors write.
"Among males, the largest contribution to the gap
was homicide in 1983 (1.1 years) and 1993 (1.6 years), but by 2003 heart
disease became the leading cause, accounting for 1.4 years (21 percent)
of the overall 6.3-year gap, followed by homicide (one year), HIV (0.6
years), and perinatal death (0.4 years)," they continue.
The current difference in life expectancy at birth
between blacks and whites remains substantial, 6.3 years for men and 4.5
years for women.
"Homicide, HIV, and perinatal death, although
demonstrating favorable trends, continue to keep the black-white gap
unnecessarily large, and unfavorable mortality trends in nephritis
[kidney disease] and septicemia [bloodstream infection] are currently
contributing to widening the gap," the authors write.
The authors emphasize that further narrowing of the
gap will require concerted efforts to address the major causes of the
remaining gap.
"Reducing social and individual risk factors for
major causes of death and improving access and quality of care for
blacks, particularly for cardiovascular diseases, should be a pressing
priority for public health and health care," they conclude.
Editor's Note: This work was supported in part by
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations Investigator Awards in Health
Policy Research Program (co-authors John Lynch, Ph.D., George Davey
Smith, M.D., and Scott Burris, J.D.) and by a contract from the National
Cancer Institute (Dr. Harper).
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