U01AG076557

A New Database to Measure the Association between Income, Race, and Mortality: Inequality in Longevity during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

Other Project Information – Project Summary/Abstract

A New Database to Measure the Association between Income, Race, and Mortality: Inequality in Longevity during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

Disparities in health and life expectancy by income are a central challenge for the United States. The highest-income American men live nearly 15 years longer on average than the lowest-income American men; the corresponding gap for women is 10 years. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified these disparities by income, race, and other dimensions.

Unfortunately, we currently lack information on how mortality rates due to COVID-19 vary with individual income because available U.S. population mortality data lacks information on income. The absence of this information has hindered our ability to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 and develop policies to mitigate its impacts, particularly on disadvantaged and underserved populations, going forward.

This project will resolve these challenges by constructing a new public database of mortality rates incorporating socioeconomic and demographic variables and covering the entire U.S. population. Using these data, researchers will be able to analyze the sources of disparate impacts of COVID-19 on mortality across subgroups, with the aim of understanding how to reduce health inequality in the pandemic and beyond.

The project has three specific aims. Aim 1 of this project is to release a new public database of mortality rates by age, income, race/ethnicity, gender, and county and provide recurring annual updates to this database. This database will be constructed by linking from tax returns, the decennial census, and Social Security death records.

Aim 2 will characterize the short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality rates by race and income in 2020-21. This analysis will measure the quantity of excess deaths and disparities in their distribution caused by the pandemic and identify economic and health mechanisms generating those disparities.

Aim 3 will measure the long-term effects of post-pandemic changes in health, health behaviors, labor income, tax and transfer policies, and behaviors on racial and socioeconomic inequality in mortality. This broader set of analyses will use the substantial disruptions generated by the pandemic to examine how and why disparities are growing or shrinking over time.

Taken together, this project will contribute to research and policy work by providing critical new data on the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, thereby providing a tool to monitor progress in mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in underserved communities.

National Bureau Of Economic Research

TO ENCOURAGE BIOMEDICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING DIRECTED TOWARD GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE AGING PROCESS AND THE DISEASES, SPECIAL PROBLEMS, AND NEEDS OF PEOPLE AS THEY AGE. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS. THE DIVISION OF AGING BIOLOGY EMPHASIZES UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF AGING. THE DIVISION OF GERIATRICS AND CLINICAL GERONTOLOGY SUPPORTS RESEARCH TO IMPROVE THE ABILITIES OF HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS TO RESPOND TO THE DISEASES AND OTHER CLINICAL PROBLEMS OF OLDER PEOPLE. THE DIVISION OF BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH SUPPORTS RESEARCH THAT WILL LEAD TO GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT BOTH THE PROCESS OF GROWING OLD AND THE PLACE OF OLDER PEOPLE IN SOCIETY. THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE FOSTERS RESEARCH CONCERNED WITH THE AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AS WELL AS THE RELATED SENSORY, PERCEPTUAL, AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH AGING AND HAS A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.866 - Aging Research

National Institute on Aging (NIA) [HHS - NIH]

Cambridge, Massachusetts 021385359 United States

Single Zip Code

Emergency Award: Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research on COVID-19 Consortium (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PAR-21-213)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 398% from $656,834 to $3,271,033.