Regional Differences in Life Expectancy Disparities between Populations with and without Diabetes

• In Event: 3460 - Health, Aging, and the Life Course

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of diabetes on population health across regions, we aim to estimate disparities in life expectancy at age 50 between populations with and without type 2 diabetes in the United States by birth region and current residence. Using data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) 1998-2014 waves, we applied a Bayesian multistate life table method to estimate a complex state space for a cohort of 17,693 U.S. elderly persons. Our results show that diabetic individuals who were 50 years old were expected to live on average 5.9-8.5 years and 7.4-9.8 years less than their non-diabetic and healthy equivalents, respectively. The impact of diabetes on population health was the largest for people currently living in the northeast compared to those living in other regions and was the smallest for people born in the south compared to those born in other regions.

Author

• Scott M. Lynch, Duke University