[ti:How Long Americans Live Depends on Where They Live]
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[00:00.12]A new study has found that how long Americans live
[00:05.80]depends on where they live.
[00:10.48]Researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation  or IHME
[00:18.84]at the University of Washington in Seattle found that the gap
[00:24.28]between counties with the highest and lowest life expectancies
[00:29.20]is larger now than it was in 1980.
[00:33.64]And life expectancy is falling in some counties.
[00:40.04]The researchers say this shows there is a large
[00:43.84]"and growing inequality in the health of Americans."
[00:48.92]Several counties in the states of North and South Dakota,
[00:53.64]where many Native Americans live, have the lowest life expectancy rate.
[01:00.12]In Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota,
[01:04.83]the life expectancy was 66.8 in 2014.
[01:10.24]There has also been a drop in the life expectancy rate
[01:15.08]in counties in poor areas of Kentucky and West Virginia.
[01:21.88]In Owsley County, Kentucky, life expectancy was 72.4 years in 1980.
[01:30.88]But by 2014 it had fallen to 70.2.
[01:36.47]Some of the counties with the highest life expectancy
[01:41.04]are in the western state of Colorado.
[01:44.36]Summit County had the longest life expectancy at 86.8 years.
[01:51.20]It was 86.5 in Pitkin County and 85.9 in Eagle County.
[02:00.04]The average life expectancy in the United States was 79.1 in 2014.
[02:08.08]Dr. Ali Mokdad is one of the authors of the study.
[02:13.12]He says the findings demonstrate an urgent need
[02:17.60]"to reduce inequality in the health of Americans."
[02:22.56]He says "federal, state and local health departments
[02:26.51]need to invest  in programs that work
[02:29.24]and engage their communities in disease prevention and health promotion."
[02:35.96]The study showed that spending more money  on healthcare
[02:40.26]does not appear to increase life expectancy.
[02:44.68]The United States spends more per person on health care
[02:48.32]than many developed countries -- $9,237 per person in 2014.
[02:56.44]That compares to $4,032 spent by Australia,
[03:03.20]which has a life expectancy of 82.3 and Japan,  which spent $3,816
[03:13.68]and has one of the highest life expectancies in the world at 83.1.
[03:21.80]Laura Dwyer-Lindgren is a researcher at IHME
[03:26.16]and one of the authors of the study.
[03:29.16]She says examining "life expectancy on a national level
[03:33.56]masks the massive differences that exist at the local level,
[03:39.16]especially in a country as diverse as the United States.
[03:44.80]Risk factors like obesity, lack of exercise, high blood pressure,
[03:50.92]and smoking explain a large portion of the variation in lifespans,
[03:57.12]but so do socioeconomic factors like race, education and income."
[04:04.68]Dr. Christopher Murray is the director of the IHME.
[04:09.56]He says "the inequality in health in the United States
[04:14.60]-- a country that spends more on health care than any other -- is unacceptable.
[04:20.76]Every American, regardless of where they live or their background,
[04:25.72]deserves to live a long and healthy life.
[04:30.08]If we allow trends to continue as they are,
[04:34.00]the gap will only widen between counties."
[04:37.72]The study was published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
[04:43.56]I'm Phil Dierking.
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