[pfschell]

This data is meaningless for analysis without exposing the racial breakdown. That South Dakota county is almost certainly nearly all American Indians. The big red patch in the south is very likely largely influenced by lower African American lifespans.

[cimmanom]

How does that make it meaningless? Yes, certain segments of the population are even more underserved than others, but that’s just more evidence for the fact that we’re doing a crap job of keeping people healthy.

[baddox]

For one thing, it makes the title a bit deceptive. If the variance in lifespan is actually caused by something other than location, then where you live doesn’t actually affect your lifespan.

[pfschell]

Because race is genetic and genetic variations lead to wildly disparate "outcomes." Your zip code is one of the weakest influences on your health and lifespan, relative to other scientifically proven factors.

[tyingq]

4 of the top 5 counties are above 80% Native American. The remaining one is mostly prison inmates.

None of the top 5 has any real correlation to a geographic area per se.

Thus "Depending on Where You Live" isn't really a great title.

[chimeracoder]

> How does that make it meaningless? Yes, certain segments of the population are even more underserved than others, but that’s just more evidence for the fact that we’re doing a crap job of keeping people healthy.

Because by not breaking out the single largest compounding factor, it's masking the real problem underlying this issue: there's a massive disparity in outcomes for people of different races.

[forkandwait]

Perhaps poverty, access to healthcare, or education is a bigger factor? Do you have evidence race is the "real problem"?

In Washington state, the counties with the worst mortality are 95% white, with 5% native (Grays Harbor and Okanagan)

(poverty, education, race are of course very correlated)

[ethanwillis]

Race in fact does play a big factor in health disparities. For example, African Americans are at much higher risk for heart health related issues. And when heart disease is the number 1 killer of people of all races.. well that just doesn't bode well for the life expectancy of AA.

And it's not just because minority populations have worse access to healthcare. There are in fact genetic components that predispose different races to different diseases.

Japanese people, Glaucoma. AA, heart disease. White people, Celiac.

Basically there's multiple components: Race, Healthcare access, Poverty, Education, Local Cultural proclivities for: diet, exercise, etc.

https://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/26/2/247.full

[chimeracoder]

> Perhaps poverty, access to healthcare, or education is a bigger factor? Do you have evidence race is the "real problem"?

You're asking if I have evidence that the IHS is an absolute disaster, which impacts mortality rates and life expectancy?

Yes, that's a problem that's been very well-documented for the past seventy years.

[black6]

> The big red patch in the south is very likely largely influenced by lower African American lifespans.

There is certainly a strong correlation[0].

[0]: https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2015/06/12/americas-ur...