U.S. Finds Gaping Racial Disparities in Public Health
Thu Jan 13, 2005 03:43 PM ET
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By Paul Simao
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Black people in the United States are far more likely than whites to die from strokes, diabetes and other diseases, according to a federal study that shows wide racial disparities persist in health care.

The finding, released on Thursday in a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirms a sobering decade-long trend seen by public health officials throughout the nation.

U.S. researchers have been warning that high-fat diets, smoking and poor access to quality health care were leading to gaping racial disparities in the rates for heart disease, stroke and cancer.

In its report, the CDC revealed that the number of potential years of life lost in 2002 due to strokes, diabetes and perinatal diseases was three times higher for black Americans under 75 than for whites of the same age.

That gap increased to about 11 times for AIDS and nine times for homicide, the CDC said. African-Americans also had substantially higher rates of some types of cancer in 2001, including stomach and colon/rectal cancer.

The CDC also noted black Americans were less likely to have health insurance, get vaccinated for influenza and pneumococcal disease, receive prenatal care in the first trimester and engage in regular moderate physical activity in adulthood.

"Insufficient resources at the community level and unequal use of effective interventions maintain the black-white gap in avoidable illness, injury and premature death," said Dr. Ben Truman of the CDC's office of minority health.

An estimated 35 million black people live in the United States, or 13 percent of the population, Census figures show.

Separate but related CDC studies released on Thursday found that blacks suffer higher rates of hypertension and appear to have a greater likelihood of getting gonorrhea, chlamydia and a number of other reportable infectious diseases.

They also report greater disability after a stroke. Strokes, which occur when blood supply to the brain is suddenly cut, are the third-leading cause of death in the nation after heart disease and cancer and a major cause of disability.

High blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and smoking are major risk factors.