Marked Disparities in Life Expectancy by Education, Poverty Level, Occupation, and Housing Tenure in the United States, 1997-2014

Abstract

Objectives: Socioeconomic disparities in life expectancy in the United States (US) are marked and have widened over time. However, there is limited research using individual-level socioeconomic variables as such information is generally lacking or unreliable in vital records used for life table construction. Using longitudinal cohort data, we computed life expectancy for US adults by social determinants such as education, income/poverty level, occupation, and housing tenure.

Methods: We analyzed the 1997-2014 National Health Interview Survey prospectively linked to mortality records in the National Death Index (N=1,146,271). Standard life table methodologies were used to compute life expectancy and other life table functions at various ages according to socioeconomic variables stratified by sex and race/ethnicity.

Results: Adults with at least a Master’s degree had 14.7 years higher life expectancy at age 18 than those with less than a high school education and 8.3 years higher life expectancy than those with a high school education. Poverty was inversely related to life expectancy. Individuals living in poverty had 10.5 years lower life expectancy at age 18 than those with incomes ≥400% of the poverty threshold. Laborers and those employed in craft and repair occupations had, respectively, 10.9 years and 8.6 years lower life expectancy at age 18 than those with professional and managerial occupations. Male and female renters had, respectively, 4.0 years and 4.6 years lower life expectancy at age 18 than homeowners. Women in the most advantaged socioeconomic group outlived men in the most disadvantaged group by 23.5 years at age 18.

Conclusions and Global Health Implications: Marked socioeconomic gradients in US life expectancy were found across all sex and racial/ethnic groups. Adults with lower education, higher poverty levels, in manual occupations, and with rental housing had substantially lower life expectancy compared to their counterparts with higher socioeconomic position.

Copyright © 2021 Singh and Lee. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.