Health Report Shows American Indians Have Shorter Lifespans
A report released earlier this year shows that American Indian Montanans have a 15-year younger lifespan for males and 18-year younger lifespan for females compared non-American Indians.
The report by the Office of American Indian Health, Montana Department of Health and Human Services, reads that the median age at death was 60 among American Indian men and 63 for American Indian women in the state. Most deaths occurred between ages 60 and 69 for both sexes. The information was for the years 2019 to 2023.
Most common causes of deaths for the 845 American Indians ages 25-44 in Montana were unintentional injury for 230, liver disease for 149 and suicide for 81. Top reasons for deaths for the 307 between ages 0-24 were unintentional injury (97) and suicide (69).
For the 1,534 deaths for ages 45-64, the top causes were heart disease (255), liver disease (195), cancer (191), COVID (150 and unintentional injury (149). For the 1,973 deaths for ages 65 and above, heart disease (391) and cancer (372) were the top causes.
As far as unintentional injury deaths, 38 percent were motor vehicle crashes and 36 percent were accidental poisoning. A total of 56 percent of American Indians killed in a motor vehicle crash were killed in a crash that involved an intoxicated driver.
The report reads, “The most common causes of death in all age group are primarily caused by risk behaviors that can be changed: commercial tobacco use, alcohol use, substance use disorder, poor diet, little or no physical activity, and lack of preventive health care such as: vaccines, cancer screening, or treating high blood pressure. Changing these risky behaviors requires correcting the current social environment and acknowledging the historical trauma that lead to it.”
Three actions to support American Indian communities proposed in the report were:
• Protect children and integrate traditional tribal practices into everything health officials do. This will improve their mental, spiritual and emotional health for their whole lives.
• Reduce use of alcohol and commercial tobacco products.
• Promote healthy lifestyles through access to fresh whole foods and safe physical activity.
