US life expectancy gap by race, ethnicity widens
How long people in the U.S. can expect to live can vary widely depending on their race or ethnicity and where they live, new research finds.
Published Nov. 21 in The Lancet, the study found racial and geographic health disparities have increased in the U.S. over the past two decades, widening life expectancy gaps as much as 20 years between some populations.
In 2021, for example, Asian American people nationwide had the longest life expectancy and were expected at birth to live to about age 84. That age was more than two decades higher than the life expectancies of American Indian and Alaska Native people, who ranked lowest with a life expectancy of only about 64 years.
By comparison, in 2000, Asian American people again had the highest life expectancy, at 83 years, the study found. But the lowest expectancy was seen among Black Americans living in rural, low-income counties in the South and among Black Americans in highly segregated cities, who each could be expected to live only about 71 years.
American Indian and Alaska Native people in the West were the only populations in the study to experience substantial declines in life expectancy before the COVID-19 pandemic. Life expectancy for the group also dropped nearly seven years from 2019 to 2021.
Researchers said gaps in educational attainment and income might explain some of the disparities. For example, Black Americans in rural, low-income counties in the South and American Indian and Alaska Native people in the West had the lowest income per capita and lowest percentage of the population that graduated college, compared to other populations.
Air pollution, higher temperatures associated with preterm birth
Environmental factors can influence whether a baby is born prematurely, impacting risks for both long-term health and survival, recent research finds.
A Nov. 13 study in JAMA Network Open links air pollution to preterm birth, a leading cause of maternal and infant death. Exposure to fine-particle pollutants, also known as PM2.5, during pregnancy significantly increases the risk that a baby will be born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, researchers found. The risk was especially high if air pollutant exposure occurred during the second trimester of pregnancy.
Pregnant women were also at considerably higher preterm birth risk if they were exposed to wildfire smoke, lived in areas with limited green space or had lower levels of income or education, the study found.
Heat waves also pose increasing risks for preterm births, according to a recent review in Nature Medicine. Researchers examined nearly 200 studies on heat, pregnancy and newborn health, finding the risk of preterm birth increased by 26% during a heat wave.
For every 1-degree Celsius increase in high temperatures, there is a 4% increase in the odds of giving birth preterm, the study said. High temperatures also were linked to increased risks for gestational diabetes, stillbirths and congenital anomalies.
About 40% of pregnant women are at risk of exposure to extreme heat, while about 75% are at risk for poor air quality, according to a Nov. 14 report from the March of Dimes.
The U.S. preterm birth rate remains high, with more than 370,000 babies — about 10.4% of all births — born before 37 weeks of pregnancy in 2023, said the report.
Preterm birth rates vary among racial and ethnic groups, with Black women giving birth preterm at a 1.4 times higher rate than other women. More pregnant women also receive inadequate prenatal care, with Black and American Indian and Alaska Native women most often missing out on the tests, checkups and other care they need.
Babies who are born preterm are at highest risk of dying up until age 5, but that risk can remain elevated until about age 36, another new study finds. The highest risks are for babies born before 28 weeks of gestation, said the research in JAMA Network Open.
Warmer weather causing dengue cases to explode globally
Dengue cases around the world reached a record high this year, and scientists say one cause is driving much of the increase: climate change.
While dengue infections can be influenced by several factors — including population density, sanitation and mosquito control — climate change now accounts for about a fifth of the world’s burden of the disease, according to new research.
Released Nov. 16 during the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s Annual Meeting, the study predicted climate change could cause dengue cases to soar as much as 200% in some places by 2050 due to rising temperatures.
More than 12.3 million dengue cases and 6,000 deaths have been reported this year in the Americas alone, which experienced 4.6 million cases in 2023. About 9.5 million of the cases have occurred in Brazil, the highest number of all nations, followed by Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and Colombia.
The U.S. also has seen a jump in dengue cases. Some of them were locally acquired, meaning that they were spread to humans via mosquitoes living within the nation’s borders, not carried home by travelers who were infected abroad. Dengue cannot be spread through human contact.
Sixty-six locally acquired dengue cases have been reported in Florida in 2024 and 15 in California. In Puerto Rico, this year’s outbreak has been severe, with more than 4,700 cases, jumping from about 1,300 in all of 2023. The U.S. territory declared the outbreak a public health emergency in March.
Other recent public health news of note includes:
• Workplace injuries and illnesses in the U.S. fell 20% in 2023, according to a new update from the Bureau of Labor statistics. The drop was driven by an almost 73% decrease in respiratory illness from 2022, the second full year of the COVID-19 pandemic. While workplace injuries overall remained stable in the private sector, they increased by nearly 28,000 cases in the health care and social services industry.
• Low-income young adults with Type 2 diabetes are at higher risk for death — especially from cardiovascular disease — than their high-income peers, says a Nov. 12 study in JAMA Network Open.
• A new rule finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Nov. 12 is aimed at reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
• Using personal care products during and after pregnancy can increase exposure to “forever” chemicals, finds a study in Environment International.
• Heavier rainstorms are causing agricultural soil in the U.S. to lose phosphorus, endangering crop yields, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The loss is linked to extreme weather events caused by climate change.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.