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

In 2017, 23.52% of Eastern North Carolinians reported their health as “poor or fair” compared to 17.43% 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 14% greater
• Cancer (all sites) mortality is 8.7% greater
• Lung cancer mortality is 12.5% greater
• Colon cancer mortality is 18.2% greater
• Diabetes mortality is 20% greater
• Stroke mortality is 13.8% greater
• COPD mortality is 0.4% greater
• Unintentional motor vehicle injuries mortality is 24.6% greater
• Other Unintentional injuries mortality is 2.5% greater
• Homicide is 35% greater
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis mortality is 4.4% less
• Septicemia mortality is 10.6% greater
• Pneumonia and influenza mortality is 6.5% less
• Suicide is 3.8% less

In terms of premature mortality (i.e., years of life lost before age 75), the 2014 US data ³ indicate North Carolina ranks 34th among the 50 states.

If the 41-county Eastern North Carolina region were a state, it would rank 43rd; above Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, and West Virginia.  If the rest of North Carolina (59 counties) were considered alone, it would rank 29th, with a rate most similar to Montana’s.

The rates and ranks for 2014 are as follows:

¹ North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 2017.  95% CIs for Eastern NC and Rest of NC are 21.02 – 26.23 and 15.71 – 19.30, 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).