A newly published study by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch offers fresh insights into a critical public health concern: why Americans live shorter lives compared to people in other wealthy nations.

Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the study was led by Dr. Neil Mehta, Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean of Research at the School of Public and Population Health (SPPH), UTMB Pepper Center Scholar and leader in the Health of Older Minorities Pre and Postdoctoral Training (T32), and Dr. Octavio Bramajo, a postdoctoral fellow at UTMB’s Sealy Center on Aging (SCOA). Their research investigates how deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) contribute to the growing life expectancy disparity between the United States and its economic peers between 2008 and 2019.

Their analysis shows that cardiovascular disease accounts for the entire growth in the life expectancy gap between the U.S. and a set of 10 other high-income countries for women, and about half of the growth among men. This puts heart health at the center of one of the most visible indicators of national well-being.