Title
Life expectancy and mortality in 363 cities of Latin America
Date Issued
01 March 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Bilal U.
Hessel P.
Perez-Ferrer C.
Michael Y.L.
Alfaro T.
Friche A.A.L.
Pina M.F.
Vives A.
Quick H.
Alazraqui M.
Rodriguez D.A.
Diez-Roux A.V.
Alazraqui M.
Spinelli H.
Guevel C.
Di Cecco V.
Tisnés A.
Leveau C.
Santoro A.
Herkovits D.
Trotta A.
Aguirre P.
López S.R.
Tumas N.
Gouveia N.
Mascolli M.A.
Slovic A.D.
Martins L.S.
Kanai C.M.
Barreto M.
Santos G.
de Freitas A.D.
De Castro C.P.
Filho J.F.d.S.
Bell M.I.d.S.
Andrade R.F.S.
Cardoso L.
Menezes M.C.d.
Pina M.d.F.d.
Skaba D.A.
Guimarães J.M.N.
Matos V.P.d.
Caiaffa W.T.
Friche A.A.d.L.
Andrade A.C.d.S.
Vaz C.T.
Coelho D.M.
Sales D.M.
Aguilar G.A.S.
Nascimento J.d.C.
Morais L.M.d.O.
Santos M.d.M.
Silva U.M.
Frenz P.
Alfaro T.
Córdova C.
Ruiz P.
Fuentes M.
Castillo M.
Pedrero S.
Rodríguez L.
Doberti T.
Vergara A.V.
Salazar A.
Cortinez-O’Ryan A.
Schmitt C.
Gonzalez F.
Baeza F.
Angelini F.
Orlando L.
Sarmiento O.L.
Higuera D.
González C.
Montes F.
Useche A.F.
Guaje O.
Jaramillo A.M.
Guzmán L.A.
Cuesta D.L.
Guerra J.A.
Bonilla J.A.
Guzmán L.A.
Linares M.
Hessel P.
Morales R.
Triana C.
Wilches M.A.
Palacio A.
Peña F.C.
Sabogal J.H.J.
Lopez J.
Fajardo K.
Botero M.
Cely N.
Martinez P.
Moncada C.
Meisel J.D.
Martinez E.
CRÓNICAS, Centro de Excelencia en Enfermedades Crónicas
CRÓNICAS, Centro de Excelencia en Enfermedades Crónicas
Publisher(s)
Nature Research
Abstract
The concept of a so-called urban advantage in health ignores the possibility of heterogeneity in health outcomes across cities. Using a harmonized dataset from the SALURBAL project, we describe variability and predictors of life expectancy and proportionate mortality in 363 cities across nine Latin American countries. Life expectancy differed substantially across cities within the same country. Cause-specific mortality also varied across cities, with some causes of death (unintentional and violent injuries and deaths) showing large variation within countries, whereas other causes of death (communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other noncommunicable diseases) varied substantially between countries. In multivariable mixed models, higher levels of education, water access and sanitation and less overcrowding were associated with longer life expectancy, a relatively lower proportion of communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional deaths and a higher proportion of deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease and other noncommunicable diseases. These results highlight considerable heterogeneity in life expectancy and causes of death across cities of Latin America, revealing modifiable factors that could be amenable to urban policies aimed toward improving urban health in Latin America and more generally in other urban environments.
Start page
463
End page
470
Volume
27
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Políticas de salud, Servicios de salud
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85099945586
PubMed ID
Source
Nature Medicine
ISSN of the container
10788956
Sponsor(s)
We acknowledge the help of A. Peralta in discussing some of the methods. SALURBAL acknowledges the contributions of many different agencies in generating, processing, facilitating access to data or assisting with other aspects of the project. A comprehensive list of these agencies can be found here: https://drexel.edu/lac/data-evidence/ data-acknowledgements. The SALURBAL/Urban Health in Latin America project is funded by the Wellcome Trust (205177/Z/16/Z). U.B. was also supported by the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health under award number DP5OD26429. The funding sources had no role in the analysis, writing or decision to submit the manuscript.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus