Black Americans die younger than white Americans, with an estimated 1.63 million excess deaths occurring between 1999 and 2020, predominantly from chronic conditions like heart disease and cancer. New research from Washington University in St. Louis reveals that cumulative stress across the lifespan and inflammation account for approximately half of this elevated mortality risk.
Graduate student Isaiah Spears led the research using data from the St. Louis Personality and Aging Network Study, which has followed older adults for nearly 20 years. Spears said he “saw the stark difference between the rate in which our Black participants in the sample have been dying relative to the white participants” and wanted to investigate what might be contributing to such racial disparities.
The research team examined stress exposure across participants’ lifespans and measured inflammatory biological markers including C-reactive protein and Interleukin-6. They found that elevated stress exposure experienced by Black Americans is associated with heightened inflammation, and these factors explained roughly half of the elevated mortality risk among Black relative to white Americans in their study.
Ryan Bogdan, who directs the BRAIN lab and advised the research, explained that previous racial disparity studies focused on overt discrimination experiences but may not capture disadvantages from structural racism that generates elevated stress exposure. He noted that chronic stress can dysregulate body systems and homeostasis. Bogdan stated that “if stress becomes chronic, that could be incorporated into one’s homeostasis; you may become less able to mount your biological systems to respond to acute stress challenges.”
Spears emphasized that greater stress exposure seen in Black Americans likely originates in societal structures that have cumulatively disadvantaged Black Americans across generations, leading to early aging and greater disease risk.
See: “Racism packs a punch for those enduring it over a lifetime” (January 26, 2026)
