A follow-up study of the Commission on Chronic Illness morbidity survey in Baltimore II. Race and sex differences in mortality

Abstract

This is a report on a mortality follow-up study of the household survey population interviewed by the Commission on Chronic Illness in Baltimore City in 1953–1954; included were 11,324 persons. The focus of this paper has been on race and sex differences in mortality. Non-whites had higher mortality than whites and this difference was greater among females than males. Race differences, however, were not statistically significant. Sex differences were small and not statistically significant among non-whites, but they were considerably greater among whites and statistically significant from the third to the sixth year following the household survey. These sex differences among whites, however, were found only in the upper socio-economic group. The race and sex differences in mortality found are generally of less magnitude than those calculated from the official data for the Baltimore City population. This may partially be due to the difference in the methods of measurement. Part may also be due to the fact that the Commission's sample differs in some respects from the total Baltimore City population. There are also errors in the basic data used in mortality analyses which confound an analysis of both race and sex differences in mortality, but are of more importance in race differences.