A new study claims that a person's a location is more likely to tell how he dies. It was found that the data collected by the University of Washington in Seattle offer an unprecedented detailed glimpse into the differing healthcare needs between regions. Say for instance, the study finds that people living along the southern stretch of the Mississippi River are more likely to die from heart problems than anywhere else in the US. While in the southwestern part of the country, suicide and homicide are most likely the causes of mortality, the study says that most deaths in Alaska, eastern Arizona, New Mexico, eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia will be most likely caused by mental and substance abuse disorders.
How Can One's Location Determine His Death?
The new county-level analysis of U.S. mortality data has allegedly concluded that in terms of where a person spends their lives can potentially tell the cause a person's death. In one of his statements reported by CBS News, study lead researcher Ali Mokdad, who is also a professor with the department of global health at the University of Washington, in Seattle has revealed that having this sort of information, county and city health departments would be able to focus their efforts on the specific problems affecting their communities.
However, as Daily Mail reports it, the researchers have warned that is indeed difficult to accurately design targeted healthcare strategies for each region's needs because death certificates are so vague. Meanwhile, authorities have also revealed that the causes of death recorded may be too general or even implausible.
On the other hand, it was found that in conducting the research, the experts have reportedly reviewed more than 80.4 million deaths recorded from 1980 through 2014 in the United States, analyzing mortality rates for 3,110 counties or groups of counties. Consequently, researchers have found that there are large disparities between counties for every cause of death, both within states and across the country as a whole. Ultimately, Mokdad allegedly hopes that the new study would be able to help various counties to get the appropriate funding to confront their particular health dilemmas.
