Articles: mortality.
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This report presents final 2001 data on U.S. deaths and death rates according to demographic and medical characteristics such as age, sex, Hispanic origin, race, marital status, educational attainment, injury at work, State of residence, and cause of death. Trends and patterns in general mortality, life expectancy, and infant and maternal mortality are also described. A previous report presented preliminary mortality data for 2001. ⋯ Generally, mortality patterns in 2001 were consistent with long-term trends. Life expectancy in 2001 increased again to a new record level. The age-adjusted death rate declined to a record low historical figure. Although statistically unchanged from 2000, the trend in infant mortality has shown a steady, although slowing, decline. The declining trend in the homicide death rate was reversed primarily as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
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Community levels of air pollution have been associated with variability in mortality rates, but previous studies have inferred exposure to pollutants on a citywide basis. We investigated mortality in relation to neighbourhood levels of income and air pollution in an urban area. ⋯ Mortality rates varied by neighbourhood of residence in this cohort of people whose lung function was tested. Two of the broader determinants of health--income and air pollution levels--were important correlates of mortality in this population.
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To date, there are few large follow-up studies of apparently healthy subjects with microalbuminuria (MA). The aim of this study is to examine the association between MA and all-cause mortality in nondiabetic nonhypertensive individuals. ⋯ Although this study confirms the association of all-cause mortality and ACR level in apparently healthy individuals, intervention trials are necessary before clinical cutoff levels of ACR are established and before screening programs are recommended.
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Health services research · Aug 2003
Improved comorbidity adjustment for predicting mortality in Medicare populations.
To define and improve the performance of existing comorbidity scores in predicting mortality in Medicare enrollees. ⋯ We conclude that in epidemiologic studies of the elderly, a modified diagnosis-based score using empirically derived weights provides improved adjustment for comorbidity and enhances the validity of findings.
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To examine racial/ethnic variations in rates of hospice use in a national cohort and to identify individual characteristics associated with hospice use. ⋯ In the 1993 NMFS, hospice use was negatively associated with African-American race/ethnicity independent of income and access to healthcare. The relationship is not independent of age, insurance type, or history of stroke. For subjects aged 55 and older, access to healthcare may be an important confounder of the negative relationship between African-American race/ethnicity and hospice use. Consistent with previous studies, this analysis found that African Americans were less likely to use LWs than whites. The reduced importance of African-American race/ethnicity on hospice use with the inclusion of presence of a LW in logistic models suggests that similar cultural processes may shape differences between African Americans and whites in advance care planning and hospice use.