African-American Health

Ben Wynne

While healthcare in the United States has exhibited remarkable improvements in the past half century, evidence continues to suggest that African Americans suffer increasing disparities in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and overall negative health outcomes in comparison with white Americans. For instance, African Americans have the highest asthma attack rates of all ethnic groups and are three times more likely than whites to be hospitalized for asthma. Black children are five times more likely than white children to have lead poisoning, which is associated with lowered IQ, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. The prevalence of diabetes is 70 percent higher among African Americans as compared to white Americans. The death rate among black women with lupus rose by 70 percent from 1979 to 1998. African Americans are eight times more likely than white Americans to be struck by sarcoidosis, a chronic disease that interferes with the functioning of vital organs, ...

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