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The cardiovascular-death rate (number/1000) varies greatly among the states in the United States. (See table at end for 1995-7 rates.)
An interesting question to ask is: Is there any correlation between the cardiovascular-death rate and the strength of the two political parties in the states?
I compared different state's cardiovascular-death rate (CDR) data for 1995-7 with the results of the 1996 presidential election for each state. (See table at end for votes in the 1996 election.) A correlation calculation yielded the following:
| Correlation | Rate |
| Democrat vote | +0.093 |
| Republican vote | +0.104 |
That is, the Democratic votes for the states had a 9% positive correlation with increasing CDR and the Republican votes had a 10% positive correlation. States with high cardiovascular-death rate vote about equally Democratic and Republican.
|
| This is a plot of the cardiovascular-death rate (CDR) sorted by rank of the states compared to the Democratic votes and the Republican votes. (See table at end for the data.) Also shown are linear fits to the two votes. This shows visually the positive correlation of CDR with the Democratic vote and the Republican vote. Note the very high value for Mississippi (474.8). |
What can one conclude from these results? Whatever factors cause the large disparity for cardiovascular-death rates between the various states also cause those states to tend to vote Democratic.
My Republican native state, Oklahoma (rate=427.8), ranked 47 of 50 and my Republican adopted state, Virginia (rate=379.3), ranked 30 of 50 for increasing cardiovascular-death rate in 1996.
| U.S. cardiovascular deaths 1995-97 | 1996 election | |||
| State | cardiovascular deaths (age adjusted per 100,000) |
Democrat | Republican | Rank |
| Hawaii | 295.7 | 56.9% | 31.6% | 1 |
| Utah | 299.9 | 33.3% | 54.4% | 2 |
| Colorado | 305.7 | 44.4% | 45.8% | 3 |
| Minnesota | 305.9 | 51.1% | 35.0% | 4 |
| New Mexico | 311.6 | 49.2% | 41.9% | 5 |
| Alaska | 316 | 33.3% | 50.8% | 6 |
| Montana | 319.2 | 41.3% | 44.1% | 7 |
| Idaho | 322.7 | 33.6% | 52.2% | 8 |
| Arizona | 322.9 | 46.5% | 44.3% | 9 |
| Washington | 324.5 | 49.8% | 37.3% | 10 |
| Massachusetts | 324.7 | 61.5% | 28.1% | 11 |
| Wyoming | 328.1 | 36.8% | 49.8% | 12 |
| Oregon | 334.3 | 47.2% | 39.1% | 13 |
| Florida | 339.5 | 48.0% | 42.3% | 14 |
| North Dakota | 340.7 | 40.1% | 46.9% | 15 |
| Connecticut | 345.4 | 52.8% | 34.7% | 16 |
| South Dakota | 345.4 | 43.0% | 46.5% | 17 |
| California | 347.5 | 51.1% | 38.2% | 18 |
| Rhode Island | 351.8 | 59.7% | 26.8% | 19 |
| Kansas | 352.6 | 36.1% | 54.3% | 20 |
| Wisconsin | 354.7 | 48.8% | 38.5% | 21 |
| Maine | 354.8 | 51.6% | 30.8% | 22 |
| Iowa | 356.3 | 50.3% | 39.9% | 23 |
| Nebraska | 359.3 | 35.0% | 53.7% | 24 |
| Maryland | 360.5 | 54.3% | 38.3% | 25 |
| Vermont | 360.5 | 53.4% | 31.1% | 26 |
| New Hampshire | 360.9 | 49.6% | 39.6% | 27 |
| New Jersey | 364.5 | 53.7% | 35.9% | 28 |
| Delaware | 375.6 | 51.8% | 36.6% | 29 |
| Virginia | 379.3 | 45.1% | 47.1% | 30 |
| Texas | 380.4 | 43.8% | 48.8% | 31 |
| Illinois | 389.9 | 54.3% | 36.8% | 32 |
| Nevada | 390.9 | 43.9% | 42.9% | 33 |
| Pennsylvania | 391.5 | 49.2% | 40.0% | 34 |
| North Carolina | 394.3 | 44.0% | 48.7% | 35 |
| Michigan | 399.1 | 51.7% | 38.5% | 36 |
| Ohio | 399.1 | 47.4% | 41.0% | 37 |
| Indiana | 401.6 | 41.6% | 47.1% | 38 |
| New York | 402.2 | 58.3% | 30.0% | 39 |
| Missouri | 408.9 | 47.5% | 41.2% | 40 |
| Alabama | 414.3 | 43.2% | 50.1% | 41 |
| Louisiana | 415.5 | 52.0% | 39.9% | 42 |
| Georgia | 417.6 | 45.8% | 47.0% | 43 |
| Kentucky | 420 | 45.8% | 44.9% | 44 |
| Arkansas | 420.8 | 53.7% | 36.8% | 45 |
| South Carolina | 423.7 | 44.0% | 49.8% | 46 |
| Oklahoma | 427.8 | 40.4% | 48.3% | 47 |
| West Virginia | 430.6 | 51.5% | 36.8% | 48 |
| Tennessee | 433.4 | 48.0% | 45.6% | 49 |
| Mississippi | 474.8 | 44.1% | 49.2% | 50 |
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