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There is a frightening figure in a recent article in Health Affairs by David Kindig and Erika Cheng.
Kindig and Cheng looked at trends in male and female mortality rates from 1992 to 2006 in all 3,140 United States counties. What they found was that female mortality rates increased in 42.8 percent of counties (male mortality rates increased in only 3.4 percent).
In their map of the data, red means that female mortality worsened.
You can see a strong regional pattern: in southern states, just about every county showed worsening female mortality; while no county showed such decline in New England.
Bill Gardner, professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University and at Ohio State University.
There are many questions about what explains this pattern. For example, did healthier women migrate out of the south from 1992 to 2006?
In any case, the map depicts a shocking pattern of female hardship, primarily in the southeast and midwest.
When I look at the graph, however, I am concerned not just about the women, but also about their children. The mental and physical health of mothers is a key determinant in children’s growth and development. What the map shows is that America has regions of communities with high concentrations of women experiencing substantial hardship. When women are not able to maintain their own health, how well can they nurture their children?
This trend is amazing in a historical context. Overall, U.S. life expectancy had been increasing steadily over the decades. Before seeing data like these, I had the simple view that increasing life expectancy was part of a general increase in human well-being, powered by the steady growth in economic well-being.
In fact, U.S. GDP per capita increased from $24,400 in 1992 to $44,600 in 2006 (in current dollars). This is a huge shot for the average American (although it was less for the median American).
But a large subgroup of women was apparently left behind. I speculate — but do not have the expertise to test — that what we are seeing is that the widely discussed increase in economic inequality in late 20th century America is also an increase in geographic inequality.
My guess is that not only are rich Americans rapidly pulling ahead of poor Americans, but that these groups are also increasingly segregated by region.
It takes a family and a village to raise a child. What happens when the moms in the village all get crushed?
—Bill Gardner is a psychologist who studies the mental health service system for children. He is professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University and at Ohio State University. The opinions in the columns solely reflect those of the author. They aren’t endorsed by the Kansas Health Institute, which seeks a broad range of opinion to stimulate discussion.