29-County Eastern North Carolina Compared to the Rest of the State, 2016 (revised 05/21/19)

In 2017, 23.09 of Eastern North Carolinians reported their health as “poor or fair” compared to 18.47% 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 12.4% greater
• Cancer (all sites) mortality is 8.3% greater
• Lung cancer mortality is 8.7% greater
• Colon cancer mortality is 17.2% greater
• Diabetes mortality is 31.4% greater
• Stroke mortality is 18.1% greater
• COPD mortality is 2.6% greater
• Unintentional motor vehicle injuries mortality is 18% greater
• Other Unintentional injuries mortality is 5.2% greater
• Homicide mortality is 21% greater
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis mortality is 14.9% less
• Septicemia mortality is 1.5% greater
• Pneumonia and influenza mortality is 8% less
• Suicide is 4.3% less

In terms of premature mortality (i.e., years of life lost before age 75), the 2014 US data³ indicate North Carolina ranks 34th among the 50 states.

If the 29-county Eastern North Carolina region were a state, it would rank 42nd; above South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. If the rest of North Carolina (71 counties) were considered alone, it would rank 33rd, with a rate most similar to Nevada’s.

The rates and ranks for 2014 are as follows:

¹ North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 2017. Statistically significant at p=.05, 95% CIs for Eastern NC and Rest of NC are 19.71 – 26.87 and 16.90 – 20.15, respectively.

² Mortality rates per 100,000 for the year 2016 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 2014 and age-adjusted to the US 2000 standard million (from NCHS’s Compressed Mortality Files 1999-2014).