TY - JOUR
T1 - Mortality disparities in appalachia
T2 - Reassessment of major risk factors
AU - Borak, Jonathan
AU - Salipante-Zaidel, Catherine
AU - Slade, Martin D.
AU - Fields, Cheryl A.
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - Objectives: To determine the predictive value of coal mining and other risk factors for explaining disproportionately high mortality rates across Appalachia. Method 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.
AB - Objectives: To determine the predictive value of coal mining and other risk factors for explaining disproportionately high mortality rates across Appalachia. Method 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.
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U2 - 10.1097/JOM.0b013e318246f395
DO - 10.1097/JOM.0b013e318246f395
M3 - Article
C2 - 22258162
AN - SCOPUS:84857372414
SN - 1076-2752
VL - 54
SP - 146
EP - 156
JO - Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
JF - Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
IS - 2
ER -