Study Reveals Staggering Toll of Being Black in America: 1.6 Million Excess Deaths Over 22 Years
By Liz Szabo
A new study published May 16 in JAMA reveals 1.63 million excess deaths among Black Americans compared to white Americans from 1999 to 2020. During that more than two-decade span, the higher mortality rate among the Black population resulted in a cumulative loss of over 80 million years of life compared to the white population. Progress in closing the gap in mortality rates was made from 1999 to 2011. However, progress stalled from 2011 to 2019 and was completely erased in 2020 due to a surge in COVID-19-related deaths. Early deaths among Black Americans are being driven by higher rates of heart disease, cancer, and infant mortality. According to Clyde Yancy, an author of the study and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the nation’s history of discrimination, more so than genetics, is responsible for the higher mortality rates among Black Americans. Yancy notes that Black neighborhoods redlined in the 1930s remain poorer and sicker and higher rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths were seen in formerly redlined ZIP codes. “It’s very clear that we have an uneven distribution of health. We’re talking about the freedom to be healthy,” Yancy said. A companion study placed a price tag of at least $421 billion on racial and ethnic inequalities in the United States in 2018 in terms of medical expenses, lost productivity, and premature death.
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