Health Disparities for African Americans

Ten Leading Causes of death for African Americans:

1.   Cardiovascular Disease

2.   Cancer

3.   Stroke

4.   Unintentional Injuries

5.   Diabetes

6.   Homicide

7.   HIV/AIDS

8.   Chronic lower respiratory Disease

9.   Nephritis, Nephrotic syndrome, Nephrosis

10. Influenza and Pneumonia

Health Facts

African Americans have infant mortality rates (one of the most sensitive indicators of health and well being in a population) twice that of whites controlling for socio-economic status. (The Henry Kaiser Family Foundation, October 1999, p.10).

African American children are five times more likely to suffer from childhood lead poisoning- widely recognized as the most serious environmental health hazard facing young children- than white children. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 141, 1997).

Caucasian women have higher rates of breast cancer, but African-American women have a higher death rate than their Caucasian counterparts. (Breast Cancer Facts 2001, The Breast Cancer Fund, 2001).

Although deaths caused by breast cancer have decreased among white women, African-American women continue to have higher rates of mortality from breast and cervical cancer. (American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts and Figures, 2003.

Men in African-American populations also have more cancers of the lung, prostate, colon, and rectum than do white men. (American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts and Figures, 2003).

Overall, African Americans have more malignant tumors and are less likely to survive cancer than the general population (American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts and Figures, 2003).

Older Hispanic and African-American adults are much less likely to be vaccinated against influenza and pneumococcal disease than their white counterparts. (Healthy People 2010, 2002).

Infant mortality among African Americans in 2000 occurred at a rate of 14.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. This is more than twice the national average of 6.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. (National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), 2002).

Compared to whites, young African Americans have a two-to-three-fold greater risk of ischemic stroke (caused by clogged blood vessels), and African American men and women are more likely to die of stroke. (Cardiovascular Disease and African-Americans, The African-American Community Health Committee).

The 1997 death rates for stroke were 61.5 for white males and 88.5 for African American males; and 57.9 for white females and 76.1 for African American females. (Cardiovascular Disease and African-Americans, The African-American Community Health Committee).

Compared to whites, African Americans develop high blood pressure at an earlier age, and it is more severe at any decade of life. As a result, African Americans have a 1.5 times greater rate of heart disease death and a 1.8 times greater rate of fatal stroke. (Cardiovascular Disease and African-Americans, The African-American Community Health Committee).

For every 6 white Americans who have diabetes, 10 African Americans have the disease. (Diabetes in African Americans Fact Sheet, National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse).

In 2000, approximately 140,000 African Americans in California were diagnosed with diabetes, which about 2 times the prevalence of diagnosed whites. (Diabetes in African Americans Fact Sheet, National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse).

In 2000, more African Americans were reported with AIDS than any other racial/ethnic group. (National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention).

Almost two-thirds of all women reported with AIDS were African American. (National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention).

The 2000 rate of reported AIDS cases among African Americans was 58.1 per 100,000 population, more than 2 times the rate for Hispanics and 8 times the rate for whites. (National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention).