How does it all end? Trends and disparities in health at the end of life.

Objectives: To consider trends and disparities in end-of-life health in the US.

Methods: I use data from the National Health Interview Survey, linked to death records through 2015, for respondents who died at ages 65+ to compare the prevalence of three health outcomes in the last six years of life across time, sex, age, race, and educational attainment. Self-rated health (SRH) is available for respondents interviewed in years 1987-2014, while information on activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) is available for the period 1997-2014.

Excess mortality in the United States in the 21st century.

We use three indexes to identify how age-specific mortality rates in the United States compare to those in a composite of five large European countries since 2000. First, we examine the ratio of age-specific death rates in the United States to those in Europe. These show a sharp deterioration in the US position since 2000.

Trends in alcohol-related mortality by educational attainment in the U.S., 2000-2017.

Background: Alcohol-related mortality rates in the U.S. have risen since 2000, though how trends vary across socio-economic status is unclear.

Life Beyond 65: Changing Spatial Patterns of Survival at Older Ages in the United States, 2000-2016.

Objectives: To identify levels and trends in life expectancy at age 65 (e65) by geographic region and metropolitan status in the United States.

Methods: Using county-level data on population and deaths from the Census and National Center for Health Statistics, we consider spatial inequality in e65 across 4 metropolitan types and 10 geographic regions from 2000 to 2016. We examine whether changes in e65 are driven by mortality developments in metro types or geographic regions, and compare spatial patterns in the United States to mortality trends in other Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

Rising geographic inequality in mortality in the United States.

Objectives: To examine trends in inequality in life expectancy and age-specific death rates across 40 US spatial units from 1990 to 2016.

Methods: We use multiple cause-of-death data from vital statistics to estimate measures of inequality in mortality across metropolitan status and geographic region. We consider trends for 5-year age intervals and examine inequality in cause-specific mortality.

Patterns of weight change associated with disease diagnosis in a national sample.

Background: The incidence and/or diagnosis of a major disease may activate weight change. Patterns of weight change associated with diagnoses have not been systematically documented.

Methods: We use data on adults ages 30+ in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999-2014.

The role of obesity in exceptionally slow US mortality improvement.

Recent studies have described a reduction in the rate of improvement in American mortality. The pace of improvement is also slow by international standards. This paper attempts to identify the extent to which rising body mass index (BMI) is responsible for reductions in the rate of mortality improvement in the United States.

The contribution of differences in adiposity to educational disparities in mortality in the United States.

Background: There are large differences in life expectancy by educational attainment in the United States. Previous research has found obesity's contribution to these differences to be small. Those findings may be sensitive to how obesity is estimated.