renting house) across gender and racial/ethnic groups, using a nationally representative longitudinal dataset containing 18-years of mortality follow-up. To address the continuing gap in research on life expectancy disparities by individual-level SES, we examine variations in life expectancy among US adults with different levels of education, income/poverty status, occupations, and housing tenure (home ownership vs. 5, 19 Prospective linkages of population surveys and census cohorts with disease registries and mortality records have enabled recent studies to examine differentials in life expectancy by individual or household income, education, and occupation, 15- 17 but none have tackled the issue of life expectancy disparities using a wide range of individual-level social determinants. 15- 18 Efforts have been made to estimate life expectancy using educational attainment data on the death certificate, but the quality of education data, especially for decedents aged 65 years and older, remains poor and unreliable. 1, 6, 9, 10 Few studies have analyzed variations in life expectancy according to individual SES measures, using longitudinal cohort data for the US. Many of these studies have used area-based socioeconomic deprivation measures to study disparities in life expectancy in the absence of patient-level socioeconomic data in administrative databases, including the vital statistics-based national mortality database in the US. 1, 9- 14 Life expectancy disparities have widened as people in higher SES groups or in more affluent communities have experienced larger gains in life expectancy than their disadvantaged counterparts. A number of studies have shown persistent or widening socioeconomic disparities in life expectancy over time both in the US and other Western nations such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. 1, 4 Although life expectancy estimates for the US are routinely reported by sex, race/ethnicity, rural-urban residence, and geographic area, 5- 8 they are not readily available by individual measures of socioeconomic status (SES). 1- 3 For over three decades, reducing health inequalities and increasing life expectancy among Americans have been the two most important health policy goals for the United States (US). Life expectancy has long been considered an important indicator of a nation’s health and well-being and human development.
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