title: Mortality disparities in Appalachia: reassessment of major risk factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the predictive value of coal mining and other risk factors for explaining disproportionately high mortality rates across Appalachia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mortality and covariate data were obtained from publicly available databases for 2000 to 2004. Analysis employed ordinary least square multiple linear regression with age-adjusted mortality as the dependent variable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age-adjusted all-cause mortality was independently related to Poverty Rate, Median Household Income, Percent High School Graduates, Rural-Urban Location, Obesity, Sex, and Race/Ethnicity, but not Unemployment Rate, Percent Uninsured, Percent College Graduates, Physician Supply, Smoking, Diabetes, or Coal Mining.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coal mining is not per se an independent risk factor for increased mortality in Appalachia. Nevertheless, our results underscore the substantial economic and cultural disadvantages that adversely impact health in Appalachia, especially in the coal-mining areas of Central Appalachia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. jonathan.borak@yale.edu
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borak
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Salipante-Zaidel
authors.forename: Martin D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Slade
authors.forename: Cheryl A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Fields
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001061:Appalachian Region / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D003032:Coal Mining / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000208:ethnology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult