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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Judge Rose Receives Responses from Research Expert on Life Expectancy

Life Expectancy in a Zip Code...
A Response from an Expert



Yesterday we published an article written by our valued reader, retired federal Judge and current Sun City Anthem resident, Shep Rose.


He received responses to his email and phone calls to..

Dr. Derek Chapman
Associate Director for Research
Center on Society and Health
Virginia Commonwealth University


...and with pleasure, we are happy to share them with you.
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Hi Shep,

I appreciate your interest in my research study. My apologies for not responding right away, but we had a big snowstorm in Virginia last week.
The schools and University were closed on Thursday and Friday, and I have not been in the office for a while. I think I received comments from you in two separate emails, so I am replying to both at the same time.

You make a lot of great points in your emails, and I will do my best to address your comments:

 1. You asked “The article  does not mention Zip codes 89052 or 89044.  Was life expectancy studied for these zip codes?” 

89052 was part of the project and had a life expectancy at birth of 82 years. I have attached a file to this email that lists of all the zip codes that were computed for Las Vegas. Also, the Las Vegas Sun produced an interactive map on their website that lets you click on a zip code to see the corresponding life expectancy for all those in the project: 


89044 and other Las Vegas area zip codes were not included in the calculations because they a) some or all of the zip is outside of Clark County or b) I did not receive data from the Nevada Department of Health for those areas.

 2. You stated that “This Center has published extensive prior research in Alameda County, California, comparing affluent  high income communities with most families having: jobs, medical insurance and primary provider doctors, as compared with: “skidrow”zip codes where the majority of residents have no  well-paying jobs, no primary providers,no health insurance,..I might add: no jobs, heavy smokers, alcoholics, etc...these have lower life expectancy.! SURPRISE??”

 You are correct that life expectancy (and health in general) is highly correlated with community characteristics such as poverty, lack of health insurance, lack of primary care physicians, unemployment, and risky behaviors like smoking and alcohol/drug abuse. 

As surprising as it may seem, there are a lot of people who have not “connected the dots” between these community problems and poor health.
The purpose of these maps is to raise awareness about how community factors like transportation, air pollution, crime, housing, food access, and access to good medical care can all affect health. 

3. You asked: “Do the Zip Codes in The Clark County Life Expectancy Table, attributed to you, reflect the median income level of each Zip code?
The higher the income, the greater the life expectancy?” 

Yes, life expectancy has a very high correlation with poverty.

I did not have the median income level of each zip code for this project; but if I did, I would expect that areas with higher income would have the highest life expectancy and those with lower income would have lower life expectancy.

 4. You said: “Comments and feedbacks welcomed on my tentative conclusion: senior 55+communities have higher median age than the communities surrounding them in the same zip code.

Furthermore, as stated in the article, senior community residents have: steady income, health insurance, primary providers, etc.

Higher median age brings with it morbidity and mortality associated with advanced age.”

 Another very insightful observation!

Life expectancy calculation is not affected by different age distributions among the zip codes because it is computed by looking at mortality rates within small (5-year) age ranges.

However, as you astutely point out, if a community such as yours has better access to primary care providers, higher income, good health insurance, and more social support than seniors living throughout other areas of Las Vegas, I would expect much lower age-specific mortality rates and much higher life expectancy.  

In summary, this is exactly the type of conversation the project’s funder (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) and I  hoped the maps would generate!
The goal was to get a conversation going with policymakers and residents about how communities can work together to ensure that every person, regardless of where they live, has the opportunity to lead a long and healthy life.

 Thanks for your interest and thoughtful comments!

 Regards,

 Derek (Chapman)

In a second email sent to Shep Rose from Derek Chapman:

I checked the original data we received from the Health Department, and we did receive mortality data for 89044.

However, we could not calculate life expectancy accurately for 89044 because there were a very small number of deaths in the ages 1-40 years.

Mortality at younger ages is always low relative to older ages.

Given the comment you made in an earlier email about your community not having a lot of school children, it is understandable that there would be a lot of younger ages with few or no deaths.

Here's a helpful link that you might wish to examine.


Note:  89052 IS on the list...life expectancy:  82 Years !
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We at Anthem Opinions sincerely thank Judge Rose for sharing both his correspondence and response from Dr. Derek Chapman.

...Just another example of community awareness, and the fascinating individuals, we in Sun City Anthem, are privileged to call "neighbor".


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