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Residential and Racial Mortality Differentials in the South by Cause of Death 1
Author(s) -
Potter Lloyd B.,
Galle Omer R.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1990.tb00682.x
Subject(s) - life expectancy , demography , residence , metropolitan area , homicide , census , gerontology , race (biology) , cause of death , life table , geography , disease , injury prevention , medicine , poison control , environmental health , population , biology , sociology , botany , archaeology , pathology
Mortality levels and differences by metropolitan‐nonmetropolitan residence for blacks and whites are examined in the South using life‐table techniques. Life tables are constructed for Southern subpopulations using U.S. vital statistics and census data for 1980, and differences in the life expectancies are decomposed by cause of death. Results suggest that life expectancy is higher for metropolitan and white populations. Racial mortality differences are slightly greater in metropolitan areas of the South when compared to the nonmetropolitan South. Residential mortality differences are attributable mainly to differences in the effects of heart disease and accidents. Most of the racial mortality difference is due to differences in effects of malignant neoplasms, cardiovascular disease, perinatal conditions, and homicide. Policy efforts aimed at specific causes of death in specific populations are suggested as a means of reducing racial or residential life expectancy differentials.