Spatially Continuous Maps of Disease Risk: An Analysis of Mortality Disparities in the United States

These findings highlight the need to go beyond education as a simple predictor variable in mortality studies, while also accounting for the differences in the nature of spatial variation. While the impact of education on mortality rates is unsurprising, the fact that Black Americans on average encounter inferior socioeconomic conditions compared to White Americans, may explain why this group is usually recognized at higher risk. This investigation suggests that addressing racial disparities in education levels could help to reduce tobacco-related mortality discrepancies effectively.