Racial inequality in active life among adult Americans

Is a shorter life with more years lived in poor health a defining attribute of the life cycle of disadvantaged groups? Based on the 1990 5% Public Use Microdata Survey we develop life table models of healthy (or active) life for the major racial groups, by sex, in the United States. The analysis und erscores the complexity of the relationship between morbidity and mortality in the population. For Asians, longer life is associated with fewer years lived in poor health. in contrast, Native Americans' relatively longer live s are accompanied by extended periods of chronic health problems. Of all ra cial groups, blacks live the fewest years, and they live a high proportion of those years with a chronic health problem. Hispanics also live substanti ally fewer years, yet the period of life they spend with a health problem i s relatively compressed Racial differences in the link between morbidity an d mortality point to the importance of investigating how chronic diseases a nd disease prevention and treatment are related to active life across the p opulation subgroups.