Black women in the United States are being killed at rates far higher than any other group, a pattern researchers describe as a severe and neglected health disparity with deadly consequences. Public health scholars warn that these deaths reflect not isolated crimes, but a systemic crisis rooted in racism, gendered violence, and unequal social conditions.In 2020, Black women were murdered at a rate of 11.6 per 100,000 people, compared with three per 100,000 among White women. The gap was widest in Wisconsin, where Black women were 20 times more likely to be killed. Tameka Gillum, an associate professor at the…
Author: Disparity Matters
Consumer debt is quietly shaping who stays healthy and who does not in the United States, according to a new policy brief published in Health Affairs, a peer-reviewed health policy journal read widely by researchers and policymakers. The analysis frames debt as a public health issue that reinforces racial inequality, particularly for Black Americans who carry heavier debt burdens and face fewer financial protections. The brief explains that Black Americans have been systematically excluded from wealth accumulation through policies and practices that increase debt and limit asset building. That exclusion has produced chronic financial vulnerability, which is closely tied to…
In the United States, Alzheimer’s disease does not strike all communities equally, and neither does diagnosis. African Americans are nearly twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s as non-Hispanic white adults but only 1.34 times as likely to receive a diagnosis, while Hispanic and Latino people are 1.5 times more likely to have the disease but just 1.18 times as likely to be diagnosed. These gaps leave many patients in underrepresented communities without answers, treatment, or support as the sixth leading cause of death in the country advances unchecked.Researchers at UCLA have built an artificial intelligence tool that mines electronic health…
Women diagnosed with uterine fibroids may face a significantly greater risk of heart disease, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The study, which analyzed data from more than 2.7 million U.S. women over a decade, found that heart disease risk was 81% higher among women with fibroids compared to those without.“This study highlights yet another aspect in the unique factors that impact women in regard to the leading cause of death among them — cardiovascular disease,” said Stacey E. Rosen, M.D., of the American Heart Association. The elevated risk persisted across all racial…
A sweeping 15-year analysis of American hospital records reveals troubling racial disparities among patients receiving peritoneal dialysis, a home-based kidney treatment. The study examined over 82,000 hospitalizations and found markedly different patterns of complications and costs across racial groups.Black patients experienced higher rates of serious complications including peritonitis infections, mechanical problems with dialysis equipment, and dangerous fluid buildup. Yet paradoxically, they had lower death rates and incurred reduced hospital costs compared to white patients. Black patients also received palliative care services far less frequently.Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander patients faced a different burden. Both groups endured elevated complication rates and substantially…
In American Samoa, pregnancy has become a flash point for a much larger story about racial health disparities. A new study from the Yale School of Public Health is probing why gestational diabetes strikes Pacific Islander women at such alarming rates, and why so many quickly develop type 2 diabetes after giving birth. Researchers note that earlier work suggests gestational diabetes may affect up to about 40% of women in American Samoa, compared with roughly 9% of pregnant women across the United States. That gap underscores how geography, genetics, and access to care can converge to place one minority community…
Counties with the highest jail incarceration rates experience markedly higher death rates from lung, liver, and colorectal cancers, with the burden falling most heavily on Black residents and men. An analysis linking decades of county incarceration data with national mortality records shows that incarceration functions as a structural force shaping who lives and who dies from cancer in the United States.Researchers examined incarceration patterns from 1995 through 2018 and compared them with cancer mortality between 2000 and 2019. Counties in the highest incarceration quartile had 7% to 10% higher mortality from the three cancers than counties with the lowest rates,…
Two Black mothers, labor pains mounting, arrived at hospitals expecting safety and routine deliveries. Instead, delayed care in Indiana and Texas pushed both women and their babies to the brink, underscoring a maternal health system that too often fails Black families. In one case, a nurse suggested discharging Mercedes Wells even after her water had broken, and she begged, “Please don’t discharge me because I am about to have this baby.” She left in agony and delivered her daughter on the side of a highway.In Texas, video shows Kiara Jones screaming in pain in a triage area as her family…
Gestational diabetes rates in the United States have surged across all populations from 2016 to 2024, but American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander mothers bear the greatest burden. Research analyzing over 12 million births reveals these communities consistently experienced the highest rates throughout the study period, even as the overall national rate climbed from 58.2 to 79.3 cases per 1,000 live births.Among Asian subgroups, the disparities are particularly acute. Asian Indian women faced the highest rates of any Asian ethnicity studied, while Chinese mothers experienced the steepest increase at 6.8% annually—the sharpest rise…
A new analysis of more than 30,000 hospital records shows how social and economic pressures deepen congestive heart failure (CHF) risk—especially for Black patients, who were disproportionately represented among those living with the disease. Researchers found that patients with CHF were “significantly older and more frequently male and Black” than those without the condition, revealing a racial imbalance that reflects long-standing inequities in cardiovascular health. The study examined social determinants of health documented in electronic health records, uncovering patterns of instability that clustered around the sickest patients. Financial strain, food insecurity, transportation barriers, depression, and stress were all more common…