1999 to 2020 Saw >1.63 Million Excess Deaths in Blacks Versus Whites

WEDNESDAY, May 17, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The Black population in the United States experienced more than 1.63 million excess deaths compared with the White population from 1999 to 2020, with rates increasing from 2019 to 2020, according to a study published in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

César Caraballo, M.D., from Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, and colleagues examined trends in excess mortality and years of potential life lost among Blacks versus Whites using U.S. national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1999 through 2020.

The researchers observed a decrease in the age-adjusted excess mortality rate from 404 to 211 excess deaths per 100,000 individuals among Black males from 1999 to 2011; the rate plateaued from 2011 to 2019 and then increased to 395 in 2020. The rate declined from 224 to 87 excess deaths per 100,000 among Black females from 1999 to 2015; no significant change was seen between 2016 and 2019, and the rate increased to 192 in 2020. A similar pattern was seen in the trends in rates of excess years of potential life lost. The disproportionately higher mortality rates in Black males and females resulted in 997,623 and 628,464 excess deaths, respectively, from 1999 to 2020, representing more than 80 million years of life.

"Excess deaths and years of potential life lost among the U.S. Black population persist and by scale warrant national attention," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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