Deaths: leading causes for 2006

"Objectives: This report presents final 2006 data on the 10 leading causes of death in the United States by age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin. Leading causes of infant, neonatal, and postneonatal death are also presented. This report supplements the annual report of final mortality statistics. Methods: Data in this report are based on information from all death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2006. Causes of death classified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) are ranked according to the number of deaths assigned to rankable causes. Cause-of-death statistics are based on the underlying cause of death. Results: In 2006, the 10 leading causes of death were, in rank order: Diseases of heart; Malignant neoplasms; Cerebrovascular diseases; Chronic lower respiratory diseases; Accidents (unintentional injuries); Diabetes mellitus; Alzheimer's disease; Influenza and pneumonia; Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis; and Septicemia. They accounted for about 77 percent of all deaths occurring in the United States. Differences in the rankings are evident by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Leading causes of infant death for 2006 were, in rank order: Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities; Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, not elsewhere classified; Sudden infant death syndrome; Newborn affected by maternal complications of pregnancy; Accidents (unintentional injuries); Newborn affected by complications of placenta, cord and membranes; Respiratory distress of newborn; Bacterial sepsis of newborn; Neonatal hemorrhage; and Diseases of the circulatory system. Important variations in the leading causes of infant death are noted for the neonatal and postneonatal periods." - p. 1by Melonie Heron."March 21, 2010."Cover title."This report was prepared in the Division of Vital Statistics (DVS)."Also available via the World Wide Web.Includes bibliographical references (p. 18-20).Heron M. Deaths: Leading causes for 2006. National vital statistics reports; vol 58, no 14. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2010

Neighborhood Effects on Health: Concentrated Advantage and Disadvantage

We investigate an alternative conceptualization of neighborhood context and its association with health. Using an index that measures a continuum of concentrated advantage and disadvantage, we examine whether the relationship between neighborhood conditions and health varies by socio-economic status. Using NHANES III data geo-coded to census tracts, we find that while largely uneducated neighborhoods are universally deleterious, individuals with more education benefit from living in highly educated neighborhoods to a greater degree than individuals with lower levels of education

Latino Health, Nativity and Socioeconomic Status

The authors examine differences in health among Latino subgroups using the 1992-1996 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). They explore immigrant-native differences in health within detailed racial/ethnic group, by gender. For most groups, immigrants have better general health, activity limitation, and obesity outcomes than natives. Overall, Puerto Ricans and blacks are most likely to report being in poor or fair health or to have an activity limitation; Mexicans and blacks have the highest prevalence of obesity. Multivariate logistic regressions reveal substantial variation in the health outcomes of Latinos by immigrant status, national origin, and measure of health. Furthermore, patterns of health disparities vary by gender. For some groups, disadvantages in health are explained by group differences in socioeconomic resources. For other groups, disadvantage persists despite control for socioeconomic, demographic and geographic factors. These findings suggest varied group-sensitive approaches to addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health.immigrant health, Latino health, health disparities, obesity, activity limitation

Health Status of Older Immigrants in the United States

In light of increased immigration to the U.S. over the past thirty years, the authors objective is to examine the unique patterns of health status among immigrants aged 55 and over, using more detailed racial/ethnic categories than previously done. The authors explore health disparities within the immigrant population and between immigrants and natives of the same racial/ethnic group. Logistic regression is used to analyze data from the 1992-1995 National Health Interview Survey. Immigrants are less likely than natives to report an activity limitation or to be obese, but more likely than natives to report themselves in poor or fair general health. There are significant differences among immigrants arriving from different coutries and between immigrants and natives who are of the same race/ethnicity. For some groups and health measures, a large share of the differences are explained by disparities in socioeconomic status; however, for others, the majority of the differences remain after adjusting for education and income. Older immigrants are not a large enough share of the population, nor do they have distinct enough health status, to substantially alter the aggregate prevalence of health conditions in the total population. However, the diversity in health status within the immigrant population is enormous. These estimates can be used to target populations with especially high rates of obesity and limitations.

Does mental health history explain gender disparities in insomnia symptoms among young adults?

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is the most commonly reported sleep disorder, characterized by trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early. Previous epidemiological data reveal that women are more likely than men to suffer from insomnia symptoms. We investigate the role that mental health history plays in explaining the gender disparity in insomnia symptoms. METHODS: Using logistic regression, we analyze National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) III interview and laboratory data, merged with data on sociodemographic characteristics of the residential census tract of respondents. Our sample includes 5,469 young adults (ages 20 to 39) from 1429 census tracts. RESULTS: Consistent with previous research, we find that women are more likely to report insomnia symptoms compared to men (16.7% vs. 9.2%). However, in contrast to previous work, we show that the difference between women’s and men’s odds of insomnia becomes statistically insignificant after adjusting for history of mental health conditions (OR=1.08, p>.05). CONCLUSIONS: The gender disparity in insomnia symptoms may be driven by higher prevalence of affective disorders among women. This finding has implications for clinical treatment of both insomnia and depression, especially among women