According to Associated Press Report (AP), the high rate of racism in America’s Health Care System has boosted the level of lost lives in infants and mothers during childbirth.
Infant and maternal mortality, asthma in children, mental disorders in adolescents, high blood pressure in adults, and Alzheimer’s disease are all higher among black Americans than their white counterparts.
From birth to death, black Americans have a worse health and healthcare system compared to their white counterparts.
read more: Maternal deaths in US doubled, African Americans with highest rate
Mortality rates are higher among Black infants and mothers; Black children are more likely to have asthma; Black teenagers have more problems in receiving mental health services; in adulthood, they struggle more with high blood pressure; and in old age, they are more prone to Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
The Associated Press has spent the past year investigating how the legacy of racism in America has underpinned the treatment disparities that black people face.
– Infancy:
2020, for every 100,000 live births, 4.10 black babies died; While this figure was 4.4 among white babies. Also, 14.8% of black babies were born prematurely in 2021; That was more than any other racial or ethnic group in America. The death rate of black pregnant mothers in 2021 was also 69.9 cases per 100,000 live births. This is while this figure was 6.26 cases among whites. Why do so many Black women die during pregnancy? One of the reasons is that doctors don’t take them seriously. In many cases, doctors assume that black women have a higher pain tolerance threshold and therefore ignore their requests to address their pain; even in cases where pain is a sign of a deadly disease.
– Childhood:
12.3% of black children suffer from asthma. This figure is more than double that of their white counterparts (5.5 percent) and the highest among children of any other race in America. The number of deaths due to asthma is also much higher among black children than white children. In 2020, for every one million people under the age of 18, 7.10 black children died as a result of asthma. While this figure was 1.4% among white children. Why are black children more prone to asthma? Location. 4 out of 10 black children live in neighborhoods that suffer from air pollution (for example, because of proximity to factories and freeways). This figure is 1 person for white children.
– Adolescence:
18% of black teenagers say that they have been exposed to racial trauma usually or often in their lives. But these experiences start from the ages of 4 to 6. About 53% of black adolescents experience moderate to severe symptoms of depression. Black teenagers experience racial discrimination an average of 5 times a day. Between 1991 and 2019, the suicide rate among black teenagers increased by nearly 80 percent, more than any other racial or ethnic group. The number of suicides among black children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 17 increased between 2003 and 2017. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22% of black teenagers have thought about suicide in the past year.
– Adulthood:
75% of black adults over the age of 55 are at risk of high blood pressure. This figure among their white counterparts is about 47%. This is despite the fact that in the case of 21% of the black victims of Covid between the ages of 55 and 64 and 19.3% of the black victims of this disease between the ages of 45 and 54, blood pressure is mentioned as one of the causes of death, which is the highest number among all racial groups in America. Although even among whites, only 32 percent of adults control their blood pressure, the number among blacks is even lower: 25 percent. Risk factors and cardiovascular diseases among blacks are expected to increase significantly in the future; While this statistic is expected to decrease in the case of whites.
– Aging:
According to the statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 14% of black Americans over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s and related mental illnesses. While this figure is 10% among their white counterparts. Of course, this difference in statistics is probably even higher, but since the possibility of Alzheimer’s diagnosis in black people by doctors is less, it does not show itself.
Additionally, the incidence of Alzheimer’s among blacks is expected to quadruple by 2060.
Experts consider the reason for the higher rate of Alzheimer’s disease among blacks to be “a lifetime of exposure to racism”. Health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, obesity, and chronic anxiety, in addition to poverty, are among the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease that are more common among blacks.
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