Life expectancy of American Indian and Alaska Native persons and underreporting of mortality in vital statistics

JAMA

2025-06-16

(Press-News.org) About The Study: This longitudinal cohort study found that large life expectancy differences between American Indian and Alaska Native individuals and other U.S. residents have been underestimated due to racial misclassification on death certificates, resulting in the statistical erasure of Indigenous people in routine vital statistics.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jacob Bor, SD, email jbor@bu.edu.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jama.2025.8126)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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Life expectancy of American Indian and Alaska Native persons and underreporting of mortality in vital statistics

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