Research shows that disparities in life expectancy are increasing across different counties in the United States. A new study looked at mortality data from 1980 to 2014 to see what kinds of geographic patterns exist.
Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle wanted to know what the leading causes of death were in each area and to determine trends over time by region. They examined death certificate data and found that differences across counties are increasing and that the main causes of death also vary by region.
In the future, the authors plan to look at more detailed causes of death in each geographic area with the goal of improving the health of each community.
