Table 2.

Cause-specific contributions to the difference in life expectancy at birth between whites and blacks by sex, 1980, 1993, and 2007 and to change in this difference between 1980–1993 and 1993–2007 (years)

Cause-of-death group	Contributions to W–B difference in e0						Contributions to the change in W–B difference in e0
	1980		1993		2007		1980–1993	1993–2007
Males
Medically amenable causes	2.33		2.24		2.08		−0.09	−0.16
Infectious and respiratory diseases		0.49		0.43		0.30	−0.06	−0.13
Cancer		0.11		0.23		0.22	0.11	−0.01
Circulatory diseases		0.83		0.71		0.72	−0.11	0.01
Birth related		0.56		0.50		0.37	−0.06	−0.13
Diabetes		0.12		0.21		0.24	0.09	0.03
Other diseases		0.22		0.16		0.23	−0.06	0.07
Ischemic Heart Disease	0.31		0.58		0.53		0.27	−0.05
HIV	0.00		1.08		0.42		1.08	−0.65
Suicide	−0.14		−0.11		−0.21		0.02	−0.10
Behavior/policy	1.70		2.01		1.17		0.31	−0.84
Lung cancer and cirrhosis		0.47		0.47		0.22	0.00	−0.24
Homicide		1.32		1.49		0.95	0.18	−0.55
Traffic accidents		−0.08		0.06		0.00	0.14	−0.05
Residual causes	2.83		2.42		1.41		−0.41	−1.01
Cancer		0.54		0.52		0.33	−0.01	−0.19
Heart disease		0.55		0.58		0.51	0.03	−0.07
Ill-defined causes		0.41		0.30		0.13	−0.12	−0.17
All other non-amenable		1.34		1.03		0.45	−0.31	−0.58
Mortality above age 75	−0.05		0.28		0.44		0.33	0.16
White e0 (t) – Black e0 (t)	6.99		8.50		5.85		1.51	−2.66
Females
Medically amenable causes	2.39		2.19		1.85		−0.20	−0.34
Infectious & respiratory diseases		0.29		0.24		0.15	−0.05	−0.09
Cancer		0.17		0.31		0.30	0.14	−0.01
Circulatory diseases		0.93		0.70		0.55	−0.23	−0.15
Birth related		0.56		0.47		0.35	−0.09	−0.12
Diabetes		0.26		0.32		0.28	0.07	−0.04
Other diseases		0.19		0.15		0.22	−0.04	0.07
Ischemic Heart Disease	0.85		0.75		0.45		−0.10	−0.30
HIV	0.00		0.42		0.27		0.42	−0.15
Suicide	−0.08		−0.07		−0.09		0.02	−0.02
Behavior/policy	0.29		0.32		0.08		0.03	−0.24
Lung cancer and cirrhosis		0.10		0.04		−0.02	−0.06	−0.06
Homicide		0.30		0.31		0.13	0.01	−0.17
Traffic accidents		−0.11		−0.03		−0.04	0.08	−0.01
Residual causes	2.04		1.70		1.06		−0.34	−0.64
Cancer		0.34		0.28		0.21	−0.06	−0.07
Heart disease		0.50		0.52		0.37	0.02	−0.15
Ill-defined causes		0.33		0.20		0.11	−0.13	−0.09
All other non-amenable		0.87		0.70		0.38	−0.17	−0.32
Mortality above age 75	−0.02		0.31		0.38		0.32	0.07
White e0 (t) − Black e0 (t)	5.48		5.63		4.00		0.15	−1.62

Source Authors’ analysis of data from Mortality Detail and Multiple Cause of Death files

Cause-specific mortality rates operate from birth to age 75. A positive (negative) value indicates that the cause of death contributed to an increase (decrease) in W–B difference in life expectancy at a given point in time or between two time points. Numbers may not add up due to rounding