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Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities in death rates from all causes combined widened from 1960 until 1990 in the U.S., largely because cardiovascular death rates decreased more slowly in lower than in higher socioeconomic groups. However, no studies have examined trends in inequalities using recen...

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Autores principales: Jemal, Ahmedin, Ward, Elizabeth, Anderson, Robert N., Murray, Taylor, Thun, Michael J.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367434/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18478119
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002181
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author Jemal, Ahmedin
Ward, Elizabeth
Anderson, Robert N.
Murray, Taylor
Thun, Michael J.
author_facet Jemal, Ahmedin
Ward, Elizabeth
Anderson, Robert N.
Murray, Taylor
Thun, Michael J.
author_sort Jemal, Ahmedin
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities in death rates from all causes combined widened from 1960 until 1990 in the U.S., largely because cardiovascular death rates decreased more slowly in lower than in higher socioeconomic groups. However, no studies have examined trends in inequalities using recent US national data. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We calculated annual age-standardized death rates from 1993–2001 for 25–64 year old non-Hispanic whites and blacks by level of education for all causes and for the seven most common causes of death using death certificate information from 43 states and Washington, D.C. Regression analysis was used to estimate annual percent change. The inequalities in all cause death rates between Americans with less than high school education and college graduates increased rapidly from 1993 to 2001 due to both significant decreases in mortality from all causes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other conditions in the most educated and lack of change or increases among the least educated. For white women, the all cause death rate increased significantly by 3.2 percent per year in the least educated and by 0.7 percent per year in high school graduates. The rate ratio (RR) comparing the least versus most educated increased from 2.9 (95% CI, 2.8–3.1) in 1993 to 4.4 (4.1–4.6) in 2001 among white men, from 2.1 (1.8–2.5) to 3.4 (2.9–3–9) in black men, and from 2.6 (2.4–2.7) to 3.8 (3.6–4.0) in white women. CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality are increasing rapidly due to continued progress by educated white and black men and white women, and stable or worsening trends among the least educated.
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spelling pubmed-23674342008-05-14 Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001 Jemal, Ahmedin Ward, Elizabeth Anderson, Robert N. Murray, Taylor Thun, Michael J. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities in death rates from all causes combined widened from 1960 until 1990 in the U.S., largely because cardiovascular death rates decreased more slowly in lower than in higher socioeconomic groups. However, no studies have examined trends in inequalities using recent US national data. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We calculated annual age-standardized death rates from 1993–2001 for 25–64 year old non-Hispanic whites and blacks by level of education for all causes and for the seven most common causes of death using death certificate information from 43 states and Washington, D.C. Regression analysis was used to estimate annual percent change. The inequalities in all cause death rates between Americans with less than high school education and college graduates increased rapidly from 1993 to 2001 due to both significant decreases in mortality from all causes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other conditions in the most educated and lack of change or increases among the least educated. For white women, the all cause death rate increased significantly by 3.2 percent per year in the least educated and by 0.7 percent per year in high school graduates. The rate ratio (RR) comparing the least versus most educated increased from 2.9 (95% CI, 2.8–3.1) in 1993 to 4.4 (4.1–4.6) in 2001 among white men, from 2.1 (1.8–2.5) to 3.4 (2.9–3–9) in black men, and from 2.6 (2.4–2.7) to 3.8 (3.6–4.0) in white women. CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality are increasing rapidly due to continued progress by educated white and black men and white women, and stable or worsening trends among the least educated. Public Library of Science 2008-05-14 /pmc/articles/PMC2367434/ /pubmed/18478119 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002181 Text en This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
spellingShingle Research Article
Jemal, Ahmedin
Ward, Elizabeth
Anderson, Robert N.
Murray, Taylor
Thun, Michael J.
Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001
title Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001
title_full Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001
title_fullStr Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001
title_full_unstemmed Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001
title_short Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001
title_sort widening of socioeconomic inequalities in u.s. death rates, 1993–2001
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367434/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18478119
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002181
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