Douglas residents enjoy Nevada's longest life spans

Staff Reports

Douglas County residents enjoy the longest life spans in Nevada, according to a study on mortality rates conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health.

The county also has the smallest difference in the life spans between men and women in the state.

The report, "Eight Americas: Investigating Mortality Disparities across Races, Counties and Race-Counties in the United States," was issued Sept. 12.

According to information gathered for the report, the average life span for a white male in Douglas County is 77.9 years, five years longer than that for a similar man in Carson City and 6.3 years longer than the shortest lived men in Lincoln and Nye counties.

Women also live longer in Douglas County with an average life span of 81.6 years, compared to Carson City's 78. 1 years.

Women still live longer in Douglas County than men, but the gap is smaller than in any other county in the state.

The average difference is only 3.7 years in Douglas, while the difference in Carson City is 5.6 years and the difference in White Pine County is 6.5 years.

In the report, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Association of Schools of Public Health and the National Institute on Aging, said disparities in life expectancy cannot be explained by race, income or basic health-care access and use alone.

The report defines eight subgroups in the U.S. population that combine race and county of residence.

The eight Americans of the report include Asians, northland low-income rural caucasians, middle America, low-income Appalachians, western native Americans, black middle America, southern low-income rural black and high-risk urban black.

The difference in life span between the first and last category can be 33 years.