Is death racial in the US?
Written by Akshaya Karthikeyan
Edited by Charan Karthik
July 31st 2021
Edited by Charan Karthik
July 31st 2021
Unlike other developed countries, the United States does not have an universal healthcare system. Healthcare has been a point of constant political and societal concern, especially when it comes to factors such as race and socioeconomic status. Race has been shown to be a highly influential indicator of early morbidity. Specifically in the US, black and white populations have drastic differences when comparing the integrity of their health and biological age. The weathering hypothesis, created by Dr. Arline T. Geronimus, researcher at University of Michigan, explains the high morbidity of Blacks in middle age as compared to their white counterparts as a result of racial marginalization¹. Given this information, you might be wondering, what are the indicators of early morbidity? How significant are the differences?
First and foremost, what are the factors that indicate deteriorating health? The researchers considered health factors such as blood pressure, hormone levels, cholesterol levels, and hip-to-waist ratio¹. Next, in order to quantify the weathering, a concept known as allostatic load was used. Allostatic load refers to how the body responds to chronic stress in relation to the main organ systems¹. Allostatic load scores can be simulated using various algorithms; The higher the score, the more allostatic load an individual experiences. The simulations were performed for both black and white men and women for ages 18-64. Poverty was also included as another factor for both races using the poverty income ratio data¹.
Black men and women scored higher than white men and women in all age groups with a statistically significant difference. Additionally, black women scored higher than black men, whereas, white men and women scored similarly for most of the age groups. Black women, despite their poverty status, had consistently higher scores across all ages as compared to white women. Although poor whites have higher scores than the non-poor whites, blacks regardless of their socioeconomic status have higher probabilities of attaining a higher allostatic score. Why does this occur? One explanation is that racial matters infiltrate into all aspects of life. Blacks need to withstand more problems and undergo more racial adversities than their white counterparts to attain a sense of security in their lives. Black women may have higher scores due to the discrimnation against their gender and race that add greater conflicts in their lives. In general, research shows that blacks age much quicker in regards to their biological age as compared to their white counterparts of the same chronological age
Understanding healthcare disparities in a racially conscious society is a factor that must be spoken more widely to combat discrimination. Racially-induced biological aging is important for healthcare systems to account and compensate for. As a society, we must reverse these trends in upbringing the next generations, as health should not be determined by race.
References
Geronimus AT, Hicken M, Keene D, Bound J. "Weathering" and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2006; 96(5): 826-833. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470581/. Published 05/2006. Accessed 04/202