Data Stream
Location , Location , Location
Inequalities in life expectancy throughout counties in the United States have been growing steadily , and research published in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that life expectancy can vary from one county to another by up to 20 years .
From 1980 to 2014 , the disparity between the counties with the lowest and highest life expectancies increased from :
“ Much of the variation can be explained by differences in socioeconomic and race / ethnicity factors , behavioral and metabolic risk factors , and health-care factors ,” the authors concluded , suggesting that “ policy action targeting [ these factors ] may help reverse the trend .”
17.9 YEARS IN 1980 TO 20.1 YEARS IN 2014
Source : Dwyer-Lindgren L , Bertozzi-Villa A , Stubbs RA , et al . Inequalities in life expectancy among US counties , 1980 to 2014 : temporal trends and key drivers . JAMA Intern Med . 2017 May 8 . [ Epub ahead of print ]
O No , Non-O !
People who have A , B , or AB blood types may have a higher risk of heart attack , according to a meta-analysis of prospective studies reporting the incidence of cardiovascular ( CV ) events and blood type .
Of more than 1.3 million patients included in the analysis ( 708,276 with non-O blood type and 476,868 with O blood type ), the researchers recorded 23,154 CV events .
Closing the Transplant Gap
From 2008 to 2014 , more U . S . patients with myeloma received autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation ( AHCT ), but a closer look at who is getting transplant reveals racial disparities , according to an analysis of data from more than 28,000 patients in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database .
The growth was considerably smaller among minorities , compared with white patients :
Hispanics : 8.6 % to 16.9 %
non-Hispanic blacks : 12.2 % to 20.5 %
The overall incidence of CV events was 2.5 % for non-O blood types and 2.3 % for O blood types , translating to a 9 % higher risk for patients with non-O blood types ( odds ratio = 1.09 ; 95 % CI 1.06-1.11 ). non-Hispanic whites : 22.6 % to 37.8 %
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
The researchers suggest that the increased risk could be caused by higher concentrations of clotting factors or cholesterol in non-O blood carriers .
Source : Kole TM , Suthahar N , Damman K , et al . Abstract # 174 . Presented at Heart Failure 2017 – 4th World Congress on Acute Heart Failure , April 30 , 2016 ; Paris , France .
Notably , race did not influence AHCT outcomes , the authors added . “ Efforts to increase the rates of transplantation for eligible patients who have multiple myeloma , with an emphasis on groups that underuse transplantation , are warranted .”
Source : Schriber JR , Hari PN , Ahn KA , et al . Hispanics have the lowest stem cell transplant utilization rate for autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation for multiple myeloma in the United States : a CIBMTR report . Cancer . 2017 May 4 . [ Epub ahead of print ]
14 ASH Clinical News July 2017