A new study by the Journal of the American Medical Association is drawing a correlation between income and life expectancy.
In Tampa Bay, the JAMA study says the life expectancy of this region’s poorest residents has declined by more than two years between 2001 and 2014.
Meantime, the life expectancy of the poorest residents in other metros around the U.S. including Birmingham and Cincinnati actually went up during the same period.
Experts have long known that the poor live shorter lives than the rich on average.
But all the factors that play a role are not known.
Factors that are generally accepted as helping any population live longer are abstention from tobacco, exercising more, and avoiding obesity.
External factors that determine life expectancy are access to health care and a region’s employment situation.
