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Objective.Some research suggests that social, political, and cultural life in the United States and Canada are growing divergent. We use health lifestyle theories to extend prior research and compare the United States and Canada on population health indicators.Methods.The population health indicators include health behaviors, fertility, and cause‐specific mortality for each of the U.S. states (and Washington, DC) and Canadian provinces and territories (N=64).Results.Canada and the United States are significantly different on many health lifestyle variables, but levels of the health lifestyle variables converge at the U.S.‐Canada border, and some U.S. states and Canadian provinces or territories exhibit similar health lifestyle patterns, regardless of whether they share an international border (these are mapped in the article).Conclusions.Although Canada and the United States differ on major population health indicators, some states, provinces, and territories exhibit marked similarities. Our article concludes with a discussion about how our comparative perspective might inform population health policies.

This paper explores the relationship between body mass and risk of death among US adults. The National Health Interview Survey–Multiple Cause of Death linked data set is used for the years 1987–1997, and Cox proportional hazard models are employed to estimate the association between obesity, as measured by the body mass index (BMI), and overall, circulatory disease-specific and diabetes-specific mortality. A U-shaped relationship is found between BMI and overall mortality. Compared with normal weight individuals, mortality during the follow-up period is 34% higher among obese class II individuals and 77% higher among obese class III individuals, controlling for age and sex. A J-shaped relationship exists between circulatory disease mortality and obesity, with a slightly higher risk of death for all categories of BMI. The relationship between BMI and diabetes mortality is striking. Compared with normal weight individuals, obese class I individuals are 2·8 times as likely to die, obese class II individuals are 4·7 times as likely to die, and obese class III individuals are 9·0 times as likely to die of diabetes during the follow-up period, controlling for age and sex. These results demonstrate that obesity heightens the risk of overall and circulatory disease mortality, and even more substantially increases the risk of diabetes mortality. These mortality findings, together with the substantial recent increases in obesity, lend urgency to public health programmes aimed at reducing the prevalence and consequences of obesity.

The inverse relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and unhealthy behaviors such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition have been well demonstrated empirically but encompass diverse underlying causal mechanisms. These mechanisms have special theoretical importance because disparities in health behaviors, unlike disparities in many other components of health, involve something more than the ability to use income to purchase good health. Based on a review of broad literatures in sociology, economics, and public health, we classify explanations of higher smoking, lower exercise, poorer diet, and excess weight among low-SES persons into nine broad groups that specify related but conceptually distinct mechanisms. The lack of clear support for any one explanation suggests that the literature on SES disparities in health and health behaviors can do more to design studies that better test for the importance of the varied mechanisms.

ObjectiveWe examine the importance of anthropometric and performance measures, and age, period, and cohort effects in explaining life expectancies among major league baseball (MLB) players over the past century. MethodsWe use discrete time hazard models to calculate life tables with covariates with data from Total Baseball, a rich source of information on all players who played in the major league. ResultsCompared to 20-year-old U.S. males, MLB players can expect almost five additional years of life. Height, weight, handedness, and player ratings are unassociated with the risk of death in this population of highly active and successful adults. Career length is inversely associated with the risk of death, likely because those who play longer gain additional incomes, physical fitness, and training. ConclusionsOur results indicate improvements in life expectancies with time for all age groups and indicate possible improvements in longevity in the general U.S. population.

Objective. We examine the importance of anthropometric and performance measures, and age, period, and cohort effects in explaining life expectancies among major league baseball (MLB) players over the past century.Methods. We use discrete time hazard models to calculate life tables with covariates with data from Total Baseball, a rich source of information on all players who played in the major league.Results. Compared to 20‐year‐old U.S. males, MLB players can expect almost five additional years of life. Height, weight, handedness, and player ratings are unassociated with the risk of death in this population of highly active and successful adults. Career length is inversely associated with the risk of death, likely because those who play longer gain additional incomes, physical fitness, and training.Conclusions. Our results indicate improvements in life expectancies with time for all age groups and indicate possible improvements in longevity in the general U.S. population.

Objective. We examine the importance of anthropometric and performance measures, and age, period, and cohort effects in explaining life expectancies among major league baseball (MLB) players over the past century. Methods. We use discrete time hazard models to calculate life tables with covariates with data from Total Baseball, a rich source of information on all players who played in the major league. Results. Compared to 20-year-old U.S. males, MLB players can expect almost five additional years of life. Height, weight, handedness, and player ratings are unassociated with the risk of death in this population of highly active and successful adults. Career length is inversely associated with the risk of death, likely because those who play longer gain additional incomes, physical fitness, and training. Conclusions. Our results indicate improvements in life expectancies with time for all age groups and indicate possible improvements in longevity in the general U.S. population. Adapted from the source document.

Objective. This article examines individual level black‐white differences in adult homicide mortality. Homicide is a major social problem and a central cause of preventable death in the United States. A homicide not only claims one life prematurely but can also devastate a family, friends, and a neighboring community. Methods. We link eight consecutive years of the National Health Interview Survey (1987–94) to the Multiple Cause of Death file through the National Death Index (1987–97), and use Cox proportional hazard models to examine the role of social factors in black‐white homicide mortality in the United States. Results. We find that individual level sociodemographic characteristics—age, sex, marital status, education, employment status, and geographic factors—explain almost 35 percent of the racial differences in homicide mortality. Conclusions. These results demonstrate the contributions that National Center for Health Statistics data can make to criminological literature and reveal the mechanisms through which blacks experience higher homicide mortality than whites. Such illumination may lead to a reduction in the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

Objective. This article examines individual-level black-white differences in adult homicide mortality, a major social problem & a central cause of preventable death in the US. Methods. We link eight consecutive years of the National Health Interview Survey (1987-1994) to the Multiple Cause of Death file through the National Death Index (1987-1997) & use Cox proportional hazard models to examine the role of social factors in black-white homicide mortality in the US. Results. We find that individual-level sociodemographic characteristics -- age, sex, marital status, education, employment status, & geographic factors -- explain almost 35% of the racial differences in homicide mortality. Conclusions. These results demonstrate the contributions that National Center for Health Statistics data can make to criminological literature & reveal the mechanisms through which blacks experience higher homicide mortality than whites. Such illumination may lead to a reduction in the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the US. 3 Tables, 40 References. Adapted from the source document.

Objective.This article addresses the relationship between suicide mortality and family structure and socioeconomic status for U.S. adult men and women.Methods.We use Cox proportional hazard models and individual‐level, prospective data from the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File (1986–2002) to examine adult suicide mortality.Results.Larger families and employment are associated with lower risks of suicide for both men and women. Low levels of education or being divorced or separated, widowed, or never married are associated with increased risks of suicide among men, but not among women.Conclusions.We find important sex differences in the relationship between suicide mortality and marital status and education. Future suicide research should use both aggregate and individual‐level data and recognize important sex differences in the relationship between risk factors and suicide mortality—a central cause of preventable death in the United States.

Objective. We explore, first, whether wealth relates to mortality risk independent of income and education, and second, whether wealth closes the black‐white gap in U.S. adult mortality while controlling for other socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors.Methods. We employ the Cox proportional hazards models on data from the 1992 wave of the Health and Retirement Study linked to deaths through 1998, to analyze pre‐retirement adult mortality in the United States.Results. The findings suggest that broader measures of SES, including wealth, are significant for understanding adult mortality. Further, vastly lower asset holdings among blacks, compared to whites, not only affects their financial well‐being but also their survival prospects.Conclusions. Research and social policies that aim to understand and close health disparities in the United States may be poorly conceived if they ignore the impact of wealth on premature adult mortality.

Objective. We explore, first, whether wealth relates to mortality risk independent of income and education, and second, whether wealth closes the black-white gap in U.S. adult mortality while controlling for other socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors. Methods. We employ the Cox proportional hazards models on data from the 1992 wave of the Health and Retirement Study linked to deaths through 1998, to analyze pre-retirement adult mortality in the United States. Results. The findings suggest that broader measures of SES, including wealth, are significant for understanding adult mortality. Further, vastly lower asset holdings among blacks, compared to whites, not only affects their financial well-being but also their survival prospects. Conclusions. Research and social policies that aim to understand and close health disparities in the United States may be poorly conceived if they ignore the impact of wealth on premature adult mortality. (Original abstract)

We explore (1) whether wealth relates to mortality risk independent of income & education & (2) whether wealth closes the black-white gap in US adult mortality while controlling for other socioeconomic & sociodemographic factors. We employ the Cox proportional hazards models on data from the 1992 wave of the Health & Retirement Study linked to deaths through 1998, to analyze pre-retirement adult mortality in the US. The findings suggest that broader measures of SES, including wealth, are significant for understanding adult mortality. Further, vastly lower asset holdings among blacks, compared to whites, not only affect their financial well-being but also their survival prospects. Research & social policies that aim to understand & close health disparities in the US may be poorly conceived if they ignore the impact of wealth on premature adult mortality. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 52 References. Adapted from the source document.