TABLE 3—

Coefficient Estimate of Local Health Department Spending, Staffing, and Medical Treatment Services on Mortality: North Carolina, 2005 and 2008

Cause of Mortality	Spending Effect on Mortality	Staffing Effect on Mortality	Medical Treatment Services Effect on Mortality
Heart	2.904	0.514	0.114
Diabetes	−2.571	2.558	−0.023
Cancer	−3.654	5.665	0.012
Influenza or pneumonia	3.888	2.100	0.045
Infant mortalitya	1.066	−1.369*	−0.035*

Note. We obtained the coefficient estimate from each model, in which we controlled for year, public clinics per 10 000 population, percentage female, unemployment rate, percentage non-White, percentage of population aged 65 years or older, total population, percentage of college graduates, percentage of non-English speakers, physicians per 100 000 population, hospital beds per 100 000 population, percentage of population living in poverty, percentage uninsured, and urban indicator. Mortality rates were calculated from 2005–2007 (for 2005) and 2008–2010 (for 2008).

Source. National Association of City and County Health Officials,¹⁹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,²⁰ and Odum Institute at the University of North Carolina.²¹

^aWe obtained the coefficient estimate in the infant mortality model using the same control variables as for the other models, except that we removed the percentage of the population aged 65 years and older and added logged births.

*P < .05.