A new publication from the Institute of Medicine reports on U.S. health disadvantages using a database developed by researchers at CUNY and collaborating institutes.

The report raises a number of important questions about health care in the U.S. Although the report is based on multiple data sources, the primary source of the comprehensive international comparison was the Human Mortality Database. This database has been developed and updated by Dr. Shiro Horiuchi and Ms. Mila Andreeva, a professor and a research associate respectively, at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, in collaboration with researchers of other institutes in an NIH-funded project. The report cites prior findings by Dr. Horiuchi that the survival curve for the U.S. has been consistently much less rectangular than those for Sweden and Japan, suggesting greater health inequality in the U.S.

Relevant links

• IOM report: http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2013/US-Health-in-International-Perspective-Shorter-Lives-Poorer-Health.aspx
• Human Mortality Database: http://www.mortality.org
• Prior finding: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10604076

Funding Source NIH (R01 AG11552)