How people die in Hartford: Minorities live 17 fewer years than whites

The median age of death for Hispanic residents in Hartford was 20 years younger than for white residents, according to data recently released by the city. For non-Hispanic blacks the gap with whites was 14 years.

TrendCT analyzed data that tracked deaths from 2008 to 2012 and found that the median age of death for non-Hispanic whites was 82 — the older end of the spectrum — but for Hispanic residents, it was 62. For Non-Hispanic blacks it was 68. For all non-whites, the median age of death was 17 years younger than for whites.

The median age of death for Hispanics is a slight improvement — three years — when compared to 1999, but the gap with non-Hispanic whites remained identical. The median age of death rose two years for non-Hispanic blacks and three years for non-Hispanic whites, so the gap between those two groups increased by about a year.

Heart disease and cancer were the top two specific causes of death for Hartford residents. Between 2008 and 2012, the deaths of 940 people did not fit 15 pre-set categories such as liver disease, HIV, or unintentional injuries.

The top three causes of death are the same for all ethnicities, although they differ in their respective orders. Each group had a unique cause of death that showed up in the fourth through sixth spots.

• For Hispanic residents, the unique cause was HIV, with 4 percent.
• For non-Hispanic blacks, it was homicides, at 4.5 percent.
• For whites, it was chronic lung disease, with 4.5 percent.
• For other unspecified ethnicities, it was kidney and liver disease (4 percent).

Looking more closely at the data reveals some interesting trends:

• In Hartford, white residents made up the highest percentage of deaths related to Alzheimer’s disease (48 percent), suicide (42 percent) and lung disease (40 percent).
• Sixty-two percent of homicide victims were black.
• Hispanic resident made up the largest percentage of deaths in Hartford related to HIV (46 percent), unintentional injuries (42 percent) and liver disease (43 percent).
• Black residents had higher percentages of deaths in eight different categories, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, stroke, and septicemia (blood infection).

Next, we looked at causes of death by neighborhoods. The rates of death are based on the population of each neighborhood, and the percent of residents over the age of 65 was included to add context.

• North Meadows had the least amount of deaths with only two in four years
• North Meadows also had the lowest median age of death at 43 followed by Clay Arsenal at 59
• South West had the highest rate of death related to Alzheimers with 1.59
• Barry Square had the highest rate of death related to heart disease at 17.38
• Blue Hills had the highest rate of death for cancer at 6.76
• Barry Square had the highest rate of death related to homicides at 3.67

Men were most likely to die of heart disease, while women died more often of “other unspecified.” More men than women have died and thus outnumber women for most causes of death except Alzheimers, stroke, lung disease, septicemia, and diabetes. Below is a list of deaths by gender listed in order of percent disparity.