Humanosphere

Based on a county-by-county analysis of health data across the United States, Seattle researchers report that Americans’ life expectancy in general is falling behind that of most other wealthy nations.

“Despite the fact that the US spends more per capita than any other nation on health, eight out of every 10 counties are not keeping pace in terms of health outcomes,” said Chris Murray, director of the UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and a co-author of the study. “That’s a staggering statistic.”

Women did worse, in some parts of the nation faring about as well as in a developing country. Here is a map the researchers created showing changes in life expectancy for women between 1987-2007, with a concentrated decline in the southeastern U.S. states:

The researchers say that the relatively low life expectancies in the US cannot be explained by the size of the nation, racial diversity, or economics. Instead, the authors point to high rates of obesity, tobacco use, and other preventable risk factors for an early death as the leading drivers of the gap between the US and other nations.

The Seattle Times’ Carol Ostrom looked at the data for Washington state, noting that some counties even in this relatively affluent corner of the country fare pretty poorly. She quotes IHME’s Ali Mokdad saying: “It’s a wake-up call for all of us.”

Well, one can hope.

This isn’t the first time health or development data has shown the U.S. scores about as well as a middle-income country. See this post on “Third World America.” The IHME also had a similar study out earlier.

Here are a few more stories on this report:

U.S. News and World Report: U.S found to be losing ground in life expectancy

CNN: Life expectancy in U.S. trails other nations

LA Times: Life expectancy for U.S. women slips in some regions