The longevity gap between Black and White men in the United States at the beginning and end of the 20th century.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to assess whether the disparity in mortality rates between Black and White men decreased from the beginning to the end of the 20th century.


METHODS
We used Cox proportional hazard models for mortality to estimate differences in longevity between Black and White Civil War veterans from 1900 to 1914 (using data from a pension program) and a later cohort of male participants (using data from the 1992 to 2006 Health and Retirement Study). In sensitivity analysis, we compared relative survival of veterans for alternative baseline years through 1914.


RESULTS
In our survival analysis, the Black-White male difference in mortality, both unadjusted and adjusted for other influences, did not decrease from the beginning to the end of the 20th century. A 17% difference in Black-White mortality remained for the later cohort even after we controlled for other influences. Although we could control for fewer other influences on longevity, the Black-White differences in mortality for the earlier cohort was 18%.


CONCLUSIONS
In spite of overall improvements in longevity, a major difference in Black-White male mortality persists.
Sloan
Frank A
FA
Department of Economics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. fsloan@duke.edu
Ayyagari
Padmaja
P
Salm
Martin
M
Grossman
Daniel
D
D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D054526:Men's Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000208:ethnology / Q000639:trends; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014728:Veterans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044465:White People