Americans’ Life Span at All-Time High, Infant Deaths at Record Low, Study Finds : Health: A national annual checkup discloses a drop in the longevity of black males. People live longer in many other countries, especially Japan.

WASHINGTON —  Life expectancy for most Americans remained at a record high and infant mortality reached an all-time low, according to federal figures announced Thursday, but health officials noted that the United States lags behind many other industrialized nations in both areas.

Moreover, the life span for black males has shown no improvement during the last half of the 1980s, and, in fact, declined between 1987 and 1988, largely as a result of homicide and the AIDS epidemic, they said.

“America’s health is good overall, and we are making excellent progress in many areas,” Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan said in releasing the results of the nation’s annual health checkup. “But this report also makes it clear that we need to do better.”

Average life expectancy at birth reached 71.3 years for men and 78.3 for women, according to figures for 1987 and preliminary data for 1988.

“After a period when average life expectancy leveled off in the 1960s, the past two decades have seen life expectancy increase by more than four years,” Sullivan said at a press conference.

However, he added, overall life expectancy in many industrial countries exceeds that in the United States. For example, he said, Japan has the longest overall life expectancy of any industrialized country--75.5 years for men and 81.6 years for women.

For black American males, longevity dropped in 1988 to 65.1 years, after an unprecedented two-year decline between 1984 and 1986 to 65.2 years from 65.6 years and no change in 1986 and 1987, the report said.

Sullivan attributed the drop to lack of access to medical care, AIDS and the high homicide rate for young black males, which in 1987 was more than seven times the rate for white males. The homicide rate among black males increased from 79.2 per 100,000 in 1986 to 85.6 in 1987, Sullivan said.

AIDS ranked ninth among causes of death for black men, 11th for white men, 16th for black women and 24th for white women in 1987, Sullivan said.

Infant mortality reached “the lowest level ever,” Sullivan said, with 10.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1987, and, according to preliminary data, 9.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1988.

However, Sullivan noted the infant mortality rate is twice that of Japan. The United States ranks 22nd among industrialized nations and other selected countries for preventing infant mortality, the report said.

Further, the gap between white and black infant mortality rates widened in 1986 and 1987, with 8.6 deaths per 1,000 live births for whites and 17.9 deaths per 1,000 live births for blacks.

For the first time since the 1960s, the fetal death rate increased for blacks. The increase among blacks was 2.4%, while whites experienced a 1.5% decline.

Sullivan speculated that the jump in the black fetal death rate might be connected to the “unfortunate epidemic of cocaine use.”

The report said that 82% of non-Latino white mothers received prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy, compared to 60% of American Indian and black mothers and 76% for Asian and Pacific Island mothers.

Among Latinos, 60% of mothers of Mexican descent received early prenatal care, compared to 83% of Cubans and 57% of Puerto Ricans. The study did not provide an overall figure for Latinos.

Low birth weight, which is considered the single most important factor associated with infant mortality, “is as much a problem now as it was a decade ago, especially among minority populations,” Sullivan said.

“Data . . . have shown that, regardless of age or education of the mother, the month prenatal care began, or marital status, black mothers are generally twice as likely to have a low birth weight infant,” he added.

Sullivan said that “smoking is down overall” and “that is the good news.” However, he said that “women aren’t leaving the ranks of smokers as fast as men.” Further, he said, lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths among women, with the death rate rising.

Also, he said, declines in cigarette smoking “have been much greater for those with higher educational attainment.”

Between 1974 and 1987, smoking by men declined by 40% among college graduates but only by 13% among men with less than 12 years of education, he said. Among women, smoking decreased by 38% for the college educated but only 2% for those with fewer than 12 years of education, he said.

Life Expectancy At Birth Life expectancy in the United States is at an all-time high, but the rate for blacks lags behind the rest of the nation, the government reported. Blacks have higher rates of premature deaths from all major causes, with the greatest difference in homicide. White females: 78.9 Black females: 73.8 White males: 72.1 Black males: 65.1 Source: National Center for Health Statistics