Study: 1.63 million excess deaths of Black Americans over 22 years

A new study has found that the nation’s racial inequities have resulted in a staggering 1.63 million excess deaths among Black Americans over the past 22 years (Source: “Study Reveals Staggering Toll of Being Black in America: 1.6M Excess Deaths Over 22 Years,” Kaiser Health News, May 16).

Research has long shown that Black people die younger than white people. Now a new study, published Tuesday in JAMA, casts the nation’s racial inequities in stark relief.

Because so many Black people die young — with many years of life ahead of them — their higher mortality rate from 1999 to 2020 resulted in a cumulative loss of more than 80 million years of life compared with the white population, the study showed.

Authors of the study describe it as a call to action to improve the health of Black Americans, whose early deaths are fueled by higher rates of heart disease, cancer and infant mortality.

“The study is hugely important for about 1.63 million reasons,” said Herman Taylor, an author of the study and director of the cardiovascular research institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine. “Real lives are being lost. Real families are missing parents and grandparents,” Taylor said. “Babies and their mothers are dying. We have been screaming this message for decades.”

To learn more about health disparities and inequities in Ohio, see HPIO’s Health Value Dashboard equity profiles.