AEGiS-Miami Herald: About The Study

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

About The Study

Miami Herald - December 26, 2004

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that failure to deliver standard care to black Americans cost nearly 900,000 lives from 1991 to 2000. An important limitation of the study was that it looked only at mortality and did not examine the role increased illness or other factors (such as income, lifestyle and environment) may play in these outcomes. Some of the key measures reflecting greater rates of death and disease among blacks:

* Blacks are twice as likely to have diabetes as whites, and they experience more complications from the disease.

* About 40 percent of blacks have cardiovascular disease, compared with 30 percent of white men and 24 percent of white women. Blacks are 29 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than whites.

* Blacks have the highest prevalence of hypertension -- which increases the risk for heart disease and stroke -- among all racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Among people age 20 and older, about 42 percent of black men and 45 percent of black women have high blood pressure; 32 percent of white men and 30 percent of white women have it.

* Blacks have almost twice the risk for a first stroke as whites; they are nearly 50 percent more likely to die from a stroke than whites.

* Blacks are 23 percent more likely to die from cancer than whites. Black men die from prostate cancer at twice the rate of whites. Black women have a 30 percent higher death rate from breast cancer than white women.

* Blacks are 10 times more likely to die from HIV/AIDS than whites.

* In 2001 the infant mortality rate for blacks was more than twice as high as for whites.

Sources: Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health's "Closing the Health Gap" campaign; American Cancer Society; American Heart Association.

04122
MH041222

Copyright © 2004 - Miami Herald. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Miami Herald, Permissions, One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693 TEL: (305) 376-3719. http://www.herald.com.

AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .