29-County Eastern North Carolina Compared to the Rest of the State, 2011 (revised 04/29/13)

In 2011, 20.5% of Eastern North Carolinians reported their health as “poor or fair” compared to 19.4% of citizens in the rest of the state.¹

Age-adjusted death rates are substantially greater in Eastern North Carolina than the rest of the state for virtually all major causes of death.²

• Heart disease mortality is 12% greater
• Cancer (all sites) mortality is 5% greater
• Lung cancer mortality is 8% greater
• Colon cancer mortality is 8% greater
• Diabetes mortality is 27% greater
• Stroke mortality is 5% greater
• COPD mortality is 8% less
• Unintentional motor vehicle injuries mortality is 15% greater
• Other Unintentional injuries mortality is 5% less
• Homicide mortality is 12% greater
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis mortality is 8% greater
• Septicemia mortality is 5% greater
• Pneumonia and influenza mortality is 2% greater
• Suicide is 1.3% less

In terms of premature mortality (i.e., years of life lost before age 75), the 2009 US data³ indicate North Carolina ranks 35th among the 50 states.

If the 29-county Eastern North Carolina region were a state, it would rank 45th; above Oklahoma, Arkansas, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the District of Columbia. If the rest of North Carolina (71 counties) were considered alone, it would rank 30th, with a rate most similar to Florida’s.

The rates and ranks for 2009 are as follows:

¹ North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 2011. Statistically significant at p=.05, 95% CIs for Eastern NC and Rest of NC are 17.5 – 23.8 and 18.3 – 20.7, respectively.

² Mortality rates per 100,000 for the year 2010 and age-adjusted to the US 2000 standard million (from NC SCHS’s Vital Statistics accessed via UNC—Chapel Hill’s Odum Institute).

³ Premature mortality (before age 75) rates per 10,000 for the year 2009 and age-adjusted to the US 2000 standard million (from NCHS’s Compressed Mortality Files 1999-2009).