I was surprised when I heard from our county health workers that residents from Orinda, a financially high-end community lived 10 years longer than Bay Point, a community I worked with, even though the two communities were only 20 miles apart.
The difference being that Bay Point was low-income and made up primarily by Latino and Black working families.
According to a recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Asian Americans have the longest life span than any other ethnicity in the United States and most of the world. For many Asian Americans, it’s around 84 — on par with life expectancies in Japan and Switzerland.
In contrast, the life expectancy among Native Americans in the western United States has dropped below 64 years, close to life expectancies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.
“As long as we have these really severe disparities, we’re going to have this very low life expectancy,” said Kathleen Harris, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina. “It should not be that way for a country as rich as the US.”
Called “Ten Americas,” the analysis published late last year in The Lancet found that “one’s life expectancy varies dramatically depending on where one lives, the economic conditions in that location, and one’s racial and ethnic identity.”
One of the reasons for the lifespan disparity may be education. A greater portion of the Asian American community are college educated.
“People with more education are more likely to seek out and adhere to health advice,” said Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and an author of the paper. Education also offers more opportunities for full-time jobs with health benefits.
As I learned from my California county health department, another reason for the difference in life expectancy is the environment. While Orinda was a a lovely community with winding streets, homes in large lots and plenty of trees and parks.
Until recently, unincorporated Bay Point had industrial chemical plants spewing pollutants that were harmful to the health of the residents. It's residents won a lawsuit against one industrial plant and has been
Household income certainly played a role in the differences. “Money allows you to take steps to take care of yourself,” Mokdad said. The rich community in my county had an average household income of $250,000 while the Bay Point's household income average was slightly above $80,000.
“People with more education are more likely to seek out and adhere to health advice,” said Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and an author of the paper. Education also offers more opportunities for full-time jobs with health benefits.
As I learned from my California county health department, another reason for the difference in life expectancy is the environment. While Orinda was a a lovely community with winding streets, homes in large lots and plenty of trees and parks.
Until recently, unincorporated Bay Point had industrial chemical plants spewing pollutants that were harmful to the health of the residents. It's residents won a lawsuit against one industrial plant and has been
Household income certainly played a role in the differences. “Money allows you to take steps to take care of yourself,” Mokdad said. The rich community in my county had an average household income of $250,000 while the Bay Point's household income average was slightly above $80,000.
Residents of the rich community have access to the best health insurance, best doctors and most importantly, the ability to take time off of work to tend to their health needs.
The group with the highest incomes in most years of the analysis was predominantly composed of white people, followed by many Asians. The latter, however, maintained the highest rates of college graduation, by far. About half finished college, compared with fewer than a third of other populations.
The study suggests that education partly accounts for differences among white people living in low-income counties, where the individual income averaged less than $32,363. Since 2000, white people in low-income counties in southeastern states — defined as those in Appalachia and the Lower Mississippi Valley — had far lower life expectancies than those in upper midwestern states including Montana, Nebraska, and Iowa. (The authors provide details on how the groups were defined and delineated in their report.)
The group with the highest incomes in most years of the analysis was predominantly composed of white people, followed by many Asians. The latter, however, maintained the highest rates of college graduation, by far. About half finished college, compared with fewer than a third of other populations.
The study suggests that education partly accounts for differences among white people living in low-income counties, where the individual income averaged less than $32,363. Since 2000, white people in low-income counties in southeastern states — defined as those in Appalachia and the Lower Mississippi Valley — had far lower life expectancies than those in upper midwestern states including Montana, Nebraska, and Iowa. (The authors provide details on how the groups were defined and delineated in their report.)
Heart disease, car fatalities, diabetes, Covid-19, and other common causes of death are directly to blame. But research shows that the conditions of people’s lives, their behaviors, and their environments heavily influence why some populations are at higher risk than others.
As one can see in the accompanying chart, there was a sharp decline between 2019 and 2022. The US experienced a sharper decline and a slower rebound in life expectancy than pther countries, on average, due to increased mortality and premature death rates in the US from the pandemic. Updated life expectancy estimates in this chart collection show that in 2023, life expectancy in the US returned to pre-pandemic levels, but, on average, remains lower than that of comparable countries.
The worsening health of specific populations is a key reason the country’s overall life expectancy — at 75 years for men and 80 for women — is the shortest among wealthy nations.
Despite the tendency for US residents to believe their country is No. 1 in all aspects of living including healthcare. However, the Kaiser findings should have Americans questioning their healthcare ecosystem of private insurers and private hospitals overseen by the profit-motivated pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Perhaps, most disturbingly, among peer nations, the US has the highest per person healthcare spending, reaching an estimated $13,432 per capita in 2023. However, the higher spending on healthcare in the US. did not translate into longer lifespans. Healthcare spending has grown faster in the US than in peer countries, while life expectancy grows more slower in the US. than in peer countries.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X or at the blog Views From the Edge.
No comments:
Post a Comment