Risk Factors Affect Life Expectancy Disparities, HSPH Researchers Say

Life expectancy disparities among people of different socio-economic, geographic, and racial backgrounds can be explained by different modifiable habits and health issues, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health reported last month.

The study cited smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and high glucose levels as the principal agents contributing to discrepancies in life expectancy and mortality from cardiovascular diseases and cancers within these different groups, which were dubbed the “Eight Americas.”

Smoking is a “modifiable” factor with the largest impact on an individual’s longevity. The habit subtracts 2.5 years from men’s life expectancies and 1.5 years from women’s, according to the study, which was led by Goodarz Danaei, a research fellow at the school’s department of epidemiology.

Among the various ethnic groups, Southern rural African-Americans ran the largest deficit in life expectancy due to these health issues, according to the study, which was published in PloS Medicine.

The team’s recent work builds upon Danaei’s report in April 2009 that determined the number of people who died from the preventable causes like smoking and high blood pressure.

In a 2009 press release, Danaei called the prevalence of premature deaths due to modifiable risk factors “shocking”—a predicament that should motivate a “serious look” at the efficacy of the public health system.

—Staff Writer Gautam S. Kumar can be reached at gkumar@college.harvard.edu.