Baltimore City residents are living longer.
The mortality rate for city residents decreased 19.9 percent from 1999 to 2005, according to Maryland?s Vital Statistics Administration. During the same period, the mortality rate for all Marylanders declined 12.4 percent.
To produce mortality rate statistics, the VSA measures the number of people who died per 100,000 people in a given year, adjusting the rate according to the population?s age distribution.
“In order to compensate for disparities between ?older? areas or cities with a lot of retirees to places where there is a younger population, statisticians use this methodology. Age-adjusting boils mortality rates down to common denominators to make them comparable,” said Hal Sommers, research statistician with Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The VSA?s information shows the life expectancy of a city resident has risen from 67.3 years in 1995 to 71.6 years in 2005.
“The latest data demonstrates very clear progress but there?s still a lot more public health work to be done in Baltimore. This is not ?mission accomplished.? We still have much more progress to make,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, commissioner of Baltimore City Health Department.
Even though the life expectancy rate overall has gone up, the disparity between whites and blacks needs our attention, said Sharfstein. In 2005, the life expectancy rate for black women and men was 69.8 percent; the life expectancy rate for white women and men was 74.9 percent.
To reduce premature deaths, the City?s Health Department is planning initiatives to increase access to health care, target preventable diseases, and reduce health care disparities.
The VSA is a division of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The local agency records Maryland?s population trends and Marylanders? death, births, marriages and divorces.
