The Contribution of Health Care and Other Interventions to Black-White Disparities in Life Expectancy, 1980-2007

Population Research and Policy Review

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 97-126

  Elo, Irma T ^a   Beltrán Sánchez, Hiram ^b   Macinko, James ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

^c NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Amenable mortality; Demographic methods; Health Care; Health disparities; Life expectancy; Race

Indexed keywords

ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME; BLACK POPULATION; CAUSE OF DEATH; CENSUS; DEMOGRAPHIC METHOD; EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS; HEALTH CARE; HEALTH POLICY; HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS; LIFE EXPECTANCY; MORTALITY; PUBLIC HEALTH; RACIAL DISPARITY;

UNITED STATES;

EID: 84891850255     PISSN: 01675923     EISSN: 15737829     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11113-013-9309-2     Document Type: Article

References (110)

1. Abreu, D. M. X., Cesar, C. C., & France, E. B. (2007). The relationship between deaths that are avoidable with adequate health care and the implementation of the unified health system in Brazil. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica, 21, 282-291.
2. Adler, G. S. (1978). Measuring the quality of medical care. New England Journal of Medicine, 298, 574.
3. Arriaga, E. (1984). Measuring and explaining the change in life expectancies. Demography, 21, 83-96.
4. Ashton, C. M., Haidet, P., Paterniti, D. A., Collins, T. C., Gordon, H. S., O'Malley, K., et al. (2003). Racial and ethnic disparities in the use of health services: Bias, preferences, or poor communication? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18, 146-152.
5. Bailey, C. J., & Kodack, M. (2011). Patient adherence to medication requirements for therapy of type 2 diabetes. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 65, 314-322.
6. Beltrán-Sánchez, H. (2011). Avoidable mortality: A review. In R. R. Rogers & E. M. Crimmins (Eds.), International handbook of adult mortality (pp. 491-508). Dordrecht: Springer.
7. Beltrán-Sánchez, H., Preston, S. H., & Canudas-Romo, V. (2008). An integrated approach to cause-of-death analysis: Cause-deleted life tables and decompositions of life expectancy. Demographic Research, 19, 1323-1350.
8. Berndt, S. I., Carter, H. B., Schoenberg, M. P., & Newschaffer, C. J. (2007). Disparities in treatment and outcome for renal cell cancer among older black and white patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 25, 3589-3595.
9. Berz, J. P., Johnston, K., Backus, B., Doros, G., Rose, A. J., Pierre, S., et al. (2009). The influence of black race on treatment and mortality for early-stage breast cancer. Medical Care, 47, 986-992.
10. Burgess, A. M., Jr, Colton, T., & Peterson, O. L. (1966). Avoidable mortality. Some practical aims for regional medical programs. Archives of Environmental Health, 13, 794-798.
11. Charlton, J. R., Hartley, R. M., Silver, R., & Holland, W. W. (1983). Geographical variation in mortality from conditions amenable to medical intervention in England and Wales. Lancet, 1, 691-696.
12. Commonwealth Fund. (2007). Aiming higher: Results from a state scorecard on health system performance. Washington, DC: Commonwealth Fund. http://www. commonwealthfund. org/publications/publications_show. htm?doc_id=494551.
13. Desai, M., Nolte, E., Karanikolos, M., Khoshaba, B., & McKee, M. (2011). Measuring NHS performance 1990-2009 using amenable mortality: Interpret with care. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 104, 370-379.
14. Eitle, D., D'Alessio, S. J., & Stolzenberg, L. (2006). Economic segregation, race, and homicide. Social science quarterly, 87, 638-657.
15. Elo, I. T., & Drevenstedt, G. L. (2002). Educational differences in cause-specific mortality in the United States. In Yearbook of population research in Finland (pp. 37-54). Helsinki: The Population Research Institute.
16. Elo, I. T., & Drevenstedt, G. L. (2004). Cause-specific contributions to black-white differences in adult male mortality between 1960 and 1995. Demographic Research-Special Collection Determinants of Diverging Trends in Mortality, 2, 255-276.
17. Elo, I. T., & Drevenstedt, G. L. (2006). Black-white differentials in cause-specific mortality in the United States in the 1980s: The role of medical care and health behaviors. PSC Working Paper Series PSC 06-02.
18. Ford, E. S., Ajani, U. A., Croft, J. B., Critchley, J. A., Labarthe, D. R., Kottke, T. E., et al. (2007). Explaining the decrease in us deaths from coronary disease, 1980-2000. New England Journal of Medicine, 356, 2388-2398.
19. Ford, E. S., & Capewell, S. (2011). Proportion of the decline in cardiovascular mortality disease due to prevention versus treatment: Public health versus clinical care. Annual Review of Public Health, 32, 5-22.
20. Garrett, B., & Yemane, A. (2006). Racial and ethnic differences in insurance coverage and health care access and use: A synthesis of findings from the assessing the new federalism project. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
21. Gay, J. G., Paris, V., Devaux, M., & de Looper, M. (2011). Mortality amenable to health care in 31 OECD countries estimates and methodological issues. OECD Health Working Papers. Paris: OECD Publishing.
22. Geronimus, A. T., Bound, J., & Colen, C. G. (2011). Excess black mortality in the United States and in selected black and white high-poverty areas, 1980-2000. American Journal of Public Health, 101, 720-729.
23. Geronimus, A. T., Bound, J., & Waidmann, T. A. (1999). Poverty, time, and place: Variation in excess mortality across selected U. S. populations, 1980-1990. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 53, 325-334.
24. Geronimus, A. T., Bound, J., Waidmann, T. A., Hillemeier, M. M., & Burns, P. B. (1996). Excess mortality among blacks and whites in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 335, 1552-1558.
25. Geruso, M. (2012). Black-white disparities in life expectancy: How much can the standard SES variables explain. Demography, 49, 553-574.
26. Harper, S., Lynch, J., Burris, S., & Smith, G. D. (2007). Trends in the black-white life expectancy gap in the United States, 1983-2003. Journal of the American Medical Association, 297, 1224-1232.
27. Hayward, M. D., Crimmins, E. M., Miles, T. P., & Ang, Y. (2000). The significance of socioeconomic status in explaining the racial gap in chronic health conditions. American Sociological Review, 65, 910-930.
28. Heijink, R., Koolman, X., & Westert, G. P. (2012). Spending more money, saving more lives? The relationship between avoidable mortality and healthcare spending in 14 countries. European Journal of Health Economics, 14(3), 527-538.
29. Ho, J. Y., & Elo, I. T. (2012). The contribution of smoking to black-white differences in mortality. Demography, 50(2): 545-568.
30. Holland, W. W. (Ed.). (1988). The European community atlas of "avoidable death". Oxford: Oxford University Press.
31. Holland, W. W. (Ed.). (1991). European community atlas of 'avoidable death'. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
32. Holland, W. W. (Ed.). (1993). European community atlas of 'avoidable death'. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
33. Humblet, P. C., Lagasse, R., & Leveque, A. (2000). Trends in Belgian premature avoidable deaths over a 20 year period. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 54, 687-691.
34. James, P. D., Manuel, D. G., & Mao, Y. (2006). Avoidable mortality across Canada from 1975 to 1999. BMC Public Health, 6, 137.
35. King, G., Polednak, A., Bendel, R. B., Vilsaint, M. C., & Nahata, S. B. (2004). Disparities in smoking cessation between African Americans and whites: 1990-2000. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 1965-1971.
36. Kjellstrand, C. M., Kovithavongs, C., & Szabo, E. (1998). On the success, cost and efficiency of modern medicine: An international comparison. Journal of Internal Medicine, 243, 3-14.
37. Kochanek, K. D., Maurer, J. D., & Rosenberg, H. M. (1994). Why did black life expectancy decline from 1984 through 1989 in the United States? American Journal of Public Health, 84, 938-944.
38. Korda, R. J., & Butler, J. R. (2006). Effect of healthcare on mortality: Trends in avoidable mortality in Australia and comparisons with Western Europe. Public Health, 120, 95-105.
39. Korda, R. J., Butler, J. R., Clements, M. S., & Kunitz, S. J. (2007). Differential impacts of health care in Australia: Trend analysis of socioeconomic inequalities in avoidable mortality. International Journal of Epidemiology, 36, 157-165.
40. Krivo, L. J., & Peterson, R. D. (2000). The structural context of homicide: Accounting for racial differences in process. American Sociological Review, 65, 547-559.
41. Kunitz, S. J., & Pesis-Katz, I. (2005). Mortality of white Americans, African Americans, and Canadians: The causes and consequences for health of welfare state institutions and policies. Milbank Quarterly, 83, 5-39.
42. LaVeist, T. A., Thorpe, R. J., Galarraga, J. E., Bower, K. M., & Gary-Webb, T. L. (2009). Environmental and socio-economic factors as contributors to racial disparities in diabetes prevalence. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24, 1144-1148.
43. Levine, R. S., Briggs, N. C., Kilbourne, B. S., King, W. D., Fry-Johnson, Y., Baltrus, P. T., et al. (2007). Black white mortality from HIV in the United States before and after introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy in 1996. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 1884-1892.
44. Levy, D. E., Byfield, S. D., Comstock, C. B., Garber, J. E., Syngal, S., Crown, W. H., et al. (2011). Underutilization of BRCA1/2 testing to guide breast cancer treatment: Black and hispanic women particularly at risk. Genetics in Medicine, 13, 349-355.
45. Lillie-Blanton, M., & Hoffman, C. (2005). The role of health insurance coverage in reducing racial/ethnic disparities in health care. Health Affairs, 24, 398-408.
46. Lizotte, A. J. (1986). The costs of using gun control to reduce homicide. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 62, 539-549.
47. Macinko, J., & Elo, I. T. (2009). Black-white differences in avoidable mortality in the USA, 1980-2005. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 63, 715-721.
48. Mackenbach, J. P. (1996). The contribution of medical care to mortality decline: Mckeown revisited. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 49, 1207-1213.
49. Mackenbach, J. P., Looman, C. W., Kunst, A. E., Habbema, J. D., & van der Maas, P. J. (1988). Post-1950 mortality trends and medical care: Gains in life expectancy due to declines in mortality from conditions amenable to medical intervention in the Netherlands. Social Science and Medicine, 27, 889-894.
50. Mackenbach, J. P., Bouvier-Colle, M. H., & Jougla, E. (1990). "Avoidable" mortality and health services: A review of aggregate data studies. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 44, 106-111.
51. Manton, K. G., Patrick, C. H., & Johnson, K. W. (1987). Health differentials between blacks and whites: Recent trends in mortality and morbidity. Milbank Quarterly, 65, 129-199.
52. Manuel, D. G., & Mao, Y. (2002). Avoidable mortality in the United States and Canada, 1980-1996. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 1481-1484.
53. Marshall, S. W., Kawachi, I., Pearce, N., & Borman, B. (1993). Social class differences in mortality from diseases amenable to medical intervention in New Zealand. International Journal of Epidemiology, 22, 255-261.
54. Massey, D. S. (1995). Getting away with murder: Segregation and violent crime in urban America. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 143, 1203-1232.
55. Mayberry, R. M., Mili, F., & Ofili, E. (2000). Racial and ethnic differences in access to medical care. Medical Care Research Review, 57, 108-145.
56. McDowall, D., Loftin, C., & Wiersema, B. (1995). Easing concealed firearms laws: Effects on homicide in three states. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 86, 193-206.
57. Moy, B., Polite, B. N., Halpern, M. T., Stranne, S. K., Winer, E. P., Wollins, D. S., et al. (2011). American society of clinical oncology policy statement: Opportunities in the patient protection and affordable care act to reduce cancer care disparities. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 29, 3816-3824.
58. National Cancer Institute. (2011). U. S. population data 1969-2009. Retrieved January 2012, from http://seer. cancer. gov/popdata/download. html.
59. Niti, M., & Ng, T. P. (2001). Temporal trends and ethnic variations in amenable mortality in Singapore 1965-1994: The impact of health care in transition. International Journal of Epidemiology, 30, 966-973.
60. Nolte, E., & McKee, M. (2003). Measuring the health of nations: Analysis of mortality amenable to health care. British Medical Journal, 327, 1129.
61. Nolte, E., & McKee, M. (2004). Does healthcare save lives? Avoidable mortality revisited. London: The Nuffield Trust.
62. Nolte, E., & McKee, C. M. (2008). Measuring the health of nations: Updating an earlier analysis. Health Affairs, 27, 58-71.
63. Nolte, E., & McKee, M. (2011). Variations in amenable mortality-Trends in 16 high-income nations. Health Policy, 103, 47-52.
64. Nolte, E., & McKee, C. M. (2012). In amenable mortality-Deaths avoidable through health care-Progress in the US lags that of three European countries. Health Affairs, 31, 2114-2122.
65. Pampalon, R. (1993). Avoidable mortality in Quebec and its regions. Social Science and Medicine, 37, 823-831.
66. Paradies, Y. (2006). A systematic review of empirical research on self-reported racism and health. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 888-901.
67. Petersen, L. A., Wright, S. M., Peterson, E. D., & Daley, J. (2002). Impact of race on cardiac care and outcomes in veterans with acute myocardial infarction. Medical Care, 40, 86-96.
68. Peterson, E. D., Shaw, L. K., DeLong, E. R., Pryor, D. B., Califf, R. M., & Mark, D. B. (1997). Racial variation in the use of coronary-revascularization procedures-Are the differences real? Do they matter? New England Journal of Medicine, 336, 480-486.
69. Phelan, J. C., Link, B. G., Diez-Roux, A., Kawachi, I., & Levin, B. (2004). "Fundamental causes" of social inequalities in mortality: A test of the theory. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45, 265-285.
70. Piers, L. S., Carson, N. J., Brown, K., & Ansari, Z. (2007). Avoidable mortality in Victoria between 1979 and 2001. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 31, 5-12.
71. Plug, I., Hoffmann, R., Artnik, B., Bopp, M., Borrell, C., Costa, G., et al. (2012). Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality from conditions amenable to medical interventions: Do they reflect inequalities in access or quality of health care? BMC Public Health, 12, 346.
72. Poikolainen, K., & Eskola, J. (1986). Mortality from causes amenable to health services intervention. Lancet, 1, 1386-1387.
73. Pollard, J. H. (1982). The expectation of life and its relationship to mortality. Journal of Institute of Actuaries, 109, 225-240.
74. Preston, S. H., Elo, I. T., Rosenwaike, I., & Hill, M. (1996). African American mortality at older ages: Results of a matching study. Demography, 33, 193-209.
75. Preston, S. H., Heuveline, P., & Guillot, M. (2001). Demography. Measuring and modeling population processes. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
76. Preston, S. H., & Wang, H. (2006). Sex mortality differences in the United States: The role of cohort smoking patterns. Demography, 43, 631-646.
77. Rockett, I. R. H., Samora, J. B., & Coben, J. H. (2006). The black-white suicide paradox: Possible effects of misclassification. Social Science and Medicine, 63, 2165-2175.
78. Rogers, R. G. (1992). Living and dying in the U. S. A: Sociodemographic determinants of death among blacks and whites. Demography, 29, 287-303.
79. Rogers, R. G., Hummer, R. A., & Nam, C. B. (2000). Living and dying in the U. S. A: Behavioral, health, and social differentials of adult mortality. New York: Academic Press.
80. Ronzio, C. R., Pamuk, E., & Squires, G. D. (2004). The politics of preventable deaths: Local spending, income inequality, and premature mortality in US cities. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58, 175-179.
81. Rosenberg, H. M. (1999). Cause of death as a contemporary problem. Journal of the History of Medicine, 54, 133-153.
82. Rubin, M. S., Colen, C. G., & Link, B. G. (2010). Examination of inequalities in HIV/AIDS mortality in the United States from a fundamental cause perspective. American Journal of Public Health, 100, 1053-1059.
83. Rutstein, D. D., Berenberg, W., Chalmers, T. C., Child, C. G., 3rd, Fishman, A. P., & Perrin, E. B. (1976). Measuring the quality of medical care. A clinical method. New England Journal of Medicine, 294, 582-588.
84. Rutstein, D. D., Berenberg, W., Chalmers, T. C., Fishman, A. P., Perrin, E. B., & Zuidema, G. D. (1980). Measuring the quality of medical care: Second revision of tables of indexes. New England Journal of Medicine, 302, 1146.
85. Saenz, M. (2010). Health disparities and the affordable care act. NCSL Legisbrief, 18, 1-2.
86. Salihu, H. M., Stanley, K. M., Mbah, A. K., August, E. M., Alio, A. P., & Marty, P. J. (2010). Disparities in rates and trends of HIV/AIDS during pregnancy across the decade, 1998-2007. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 55, 391-396.
87. Sanders-Phillips, K., Settles-Reaves, B., Walker, D., & Brownlow, J. (2009). Social inequality and racial discrimination: Risk factors for health disparities in children of color. Pediatrics, 124(Suppl 3), S176-S186.
88. Schoenbaum, S. C., Schoen, C., Nicholson, J. L., & Cantor, J. C. (2011). Mortality amenable to health care in the United States: The roles of demographics and health systems performance. Journal of Public Health Policy, 32, 407-429.
89. Schwartz, E., Kofie, V. Y., Rivo, M., & Tuckson, R. V. (1990). Black/white comparisons of deaths preventable by medical intervention: United States and the District of Columbia 1980-1986. International Journal of Epidemiology, 19, 591-598.
90. SEER. (2011). SEER*Stat Database: Incidence-SEER 17 REGS Research Data + Hurricane Katrina impacted Louisiana cases, Nov 2010 sub (1973-2008 varying)-Linked to county attributes-Total U. S., 1969-2009 counties. Released April 2011 (updated 2010/2028/2011), based on the November 2010 submission.). National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, Cancer Statistics Branch: National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, Cancer Statistics Branch.
91. Siahpush, M., Singh, G., Jones, P., & Timsina, L. (2010). Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic variations in duration of smoking: Results from 2003, 2006 and 2007 tobacco use supplement of the current population survey. Journal of Public Health, 32, 210-218.
92. Simonato, L., Ballard, T., Bellini, P., & Winkelmann, R. (1998). Avoidable mortality in Europe 1955-1994: A plea for prevention. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 52, 624-630.
93. Smedley, B. D., Stith, A. Y., & Nelson, A. R. (2003). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
94. Soneji, S., Iyer, S. S., Armstrong, K. B. A., & Asch, D. A. (2010). Racial disparities in stage-specific colorectal cancer mortality: 1960-2005. American Journal of Public Health, 100, 1912-1916.
95. Sonel, A. F., Good, C. B., Mulgund, J., Roe, M. T., Gibler, W. B., Smith, S. C., Jr., et al. (2005). Racial variations in treatment and outcomes of black and white patients with high-risk non-st-elevation acute coronary syndromes: Insights from crusade (can rapid risk stratification of unstable angina patients suppress adverse outcomes with early implementation of the ACC/AHA guidelines?). Circulation, 111, 1225-1232.
96. Song, Y. M., & Byeon, J. J. (2000). Excess mortality from avoidable and non-avoidable causes in men of low socioeconomic status: A prospective study in Korea. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 54, 166-172.
97. Stirbu, I., Kunst, A. E., Bos, V., & Mackenbach, J. P. (2006). Differences in avoidable mortality between migrants and the native Dutch in the Netherlands. BMC Public Health, 6, 78.
98. Sudano, J. J., & Baker, D. W. (2006). Explaining us racial/ethnic disparities in health declines and mortality in late middle age: The roles of socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and health insurance. Social Science and Medicine, 62, 909-922.
99. Tehranifar, P., Neugut, A. I., Link, B. G., Liao, Y., Terry, M. B., Phelan, J. C., et al. (2009). Medical advances and racial/ethnic disparities in cancer survival. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 18, 2701-2708.
100. Tobias, M., & Jackson, G. (2001). Avoidable mortality in New Zealand, 1981-97. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 25, 12-20.
101. Transportation Research Board. (2010). Achieving traffic safety goals in the United States: Lessons from other nations. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board.
102. van Ryn, M., Burgess, D., Malat, J., & Griffin, J. (2006). Physicians' perceptions of patients' social and behavioral characteristics and race disparities in treatment recommendations for men with coronary artery disease. American Journal of Public Health, 96, 351-357.
103. Virnig, B. A., Baxter, N. N., Habermann, E. B., Feldman, R. D., & Bradley, C. J. (2009). A matter of race: Early-versus late-stage cancer diagnosis. Health Affairs, 28, 160-168.
104. Westerling, R. (1992). "Avoidable" causes of death in Sweden 1974-85. Quality Assurance in Health Care, 4, 319-328.
105. Westerling, R., & Rosén, M. (2002). 'Avoidable' mortality among immigrants in Sweden. European Journal of Public Health, 12, 279-286.
106. Wheller, L., Baker, A., Griffiths, C., & Rooney, C. (2007). Tends in avoidable mortality in England and Wales, 1993-2005. Health Statistics Quarterly, 6-25.
107. Williams, D. R., & Mohammed, S. A. (2009). Discrimination and racial disparities in health: Evidence and needed research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32, 20-47.
108. Williams, D. R., & Sternthal, M. (2010). Understanding racial-ethnic disparities in health: Sociological contributions. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(Suppl), S15-S27.
109. Woolhandler, S., Himmelstein, D., Silber, R., Bader, M., Harnly, M., & Jones, A. (1985). Medical care and mortality: Racial differences in preventable deaths. International Journal of Health Services, 15, 1-11.
110. Xu, J. Q., Kochanek, K. D., Murphy, S. L., & Tejada-Vera, B. (2010). Deaths: Final data for 2007. National vital statistics reports. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.