Your Neighborhood, Your Life Expectancy
Channel: vlogbrothers
Date: 2017-05-09

In which John discusses the astonishing degree to which an American's zip code affects their life expectancy, and why life expectancy varies so much within the United States. Also discussed: Regional variation in life expectancy in Canada and other rich nations, how much smoking reduces your life expectancy, the relationship between exercise and longevity, and more. SOURCES/INFO:

Inequalities in Life Expectancy among U.S. Counties, the study that was just published showing that life expectancy varies by 20 years within the U.S. depending on your location. (It's fascinating! Really!) http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2626194

An NPR summary: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/05/08/npr-life-expectancy-can-vary-by-20-years-depending-on-where-you-live

Life expectancy in my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana varies by more than 14 years depending on your ZIP code: http://www.savi.org/savi/documents/Worlds_Apart_Gaps_in_Life_Expectancy.pdf

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's cool app that tells you, based on your ZIP code, your life expectancy: http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/interactives/whereyouliveaffectshowlongyoulive.html

Life expectancy for smokers is 10 years shorter than for nonsmokers: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/

Physical activity can expand average U.S. lifespans by 4.5 years: https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2012/PhysicalActivityLifeExpectancy

 Life expectancy in Canada varies by income quintile, but by less than it does in the U.S. http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/publications/department-ministere/state-public-health-status-2016-etat-sante-publique-statut/page-4-eng.php

This study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK62591/ explores life expectancy variation within countries over time, finding that in most rich nations (Canada, Germany, Australia, etc.) life expectancy variation has declined since 1980, while it has steadily increased in the U.S. This is also where you can see that life expectancy among people with the highest incomes in the U.S. is (very slightly) higher than life expectancy among high income Canadians.

Lastly, LET'S TALK ABOUT LIFE EXPECTANCY. Dr. Aaron Carroll of Healthcare Triage explains it here better than I can: http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/how-flawed-is-life-expectancy/ But basically, there are a number of factors that go into life expectancy that can cause variations--especially when it comes to miscarriages/newborn deaths--but most of those variations are between countries, not within them. (i.e., it is not the reason for the huge geographic discrepancy in the U.S.) In the field of healthcare outcome analysis, there are other complains about life expectancy--it can be affected by things that have little to do with healthcare (like violence and accident rates)--but that's not of concern here. In summary, the longevity disparity between rich and poor in the U.S. is real, and it is very high by international standards.



----
Subscribe to our newsletter! http://nerdfighteria.com/newsletter/ 
And join the community at http://nerdfighteria.com  http://effyeahnerdfighters.com
Help transcribe videos - http://nerdfighteria.info
John's twitter - http://twitter.com/johngreen
John's tumblr - http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com
Hank's twitter - http://twitter.com/hankgreen
Hank's tumblr - http://edwardspoonhands.tumblr.com