Life expectancy in the U.S. varies widely when analyzed at the census-tract level and the method may provide a more detailed picture of health disparitiesin the U.S. than other widely used analyses of life expectancy, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study is the first to analyze life expectancy data at the census-tract level across the contiguous U.S., as well as at the state and county level.
The findings were published online July 13, 2020 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
“Our study shows that as far as geographic variation in life expectancy is concerned, it’s a pretty local phenomenon,” said S (Subu) V Subramanian, professor of population health and geography and co-author of the study. “States are also quite important, but counties are not.”
