{"id":10900,"date":"2019-10-18T14:49:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T14:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=10900"},"modified":"2019-10-18T14:49:49","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T14:49:49","slug":"study-where-texans-live-can-affect-life-expectancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=10900","title":{"rendered":"Study: Where Texans Live Can Affect Life Expectancy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new study shows such factors as race, housing, transportation and food availability all can have profound effects on the life expectancy in a neighborhood. Photo: Soryn\/Adobe Stock<\/p><\/div>\n

by Mark Richardson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

HOUSTON \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Where you live in Texas can be a determining factor in how long you live, according to new research.<\/p>\n

The map, developed by the\u00a0Episcopal Health Foundation<\/a>, analyzed census tracts to reveal significant differences in life expectancy in neighborhoods sometimes only a few miles apart. Brian Sasser, the foundation\u2019s chief communications officer, said the study was designed to show there are significant factors beyond health care \u2013 such as housing, transportation, food supply and race \u2013 that contribute to a person\u2019s life expectancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur point was to show the stark differences between neighborhood to neighborhood and life expectancy,\u201d he said, \u201cand many times, within the same county or in the same community, to show that there\u2019s all those things that happen outside the doctor\u2019s office that affect a person\u2019s health. And it\u2019s vividly displayed here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neighborhoods with the lowest life expectancy are those where at least 27% of residents live below the poverty line, compared with just 11% in areas with the highest life expectancy. Most high life-expectancy communities were majority white, while those with the shortest lifespans were majority Latino.<\/p>\n

Sasser said the foundation hopes the study will prompt action by state and local officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope this is raising the eyebrows of policymakers across the state, both local and state level, to look at this,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat are the differences between these counties and these areas that have lower life expectancy and higher life expectancy? And what can we learn from those areas that may be the root cause of the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the map shows that high and low life-expectancy neighborhoods often are just a few blocks apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities are so close together, so there can be a 20-year difference in life expectancy,\u201d he said. \u201cTake a five-minute drive \u2013 it\u2019s a huge difference in life expectancy, 20 years, and you talk about quality of life and everything else that goes along with that. So, what can we learn from that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The analysis is based on life-expectancy estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics for 4,700 census tracts across Texas, using six years of mortality and population data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Richardson HOUSTON \u2013\u00a0Where you live in Texas can be a determining factor in how long you live, according to new research. The map, developed by the\u00a0Episcopal Health Foundation, analyzed census tracts to reveal significant differences in life expectancy in neighborhoods sometimes only a few miles apart. Brian Sasser, the foundation\u2019s chief communications officer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10902,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10900\/revisions\/10902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}