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. 2004 Dec;94(12):2078-81.
doi: 10.2105/ajph.94.12.2078.

The health impact of resolving racial disparities: an analysis of US mortality data

Steven H Woolf  1 , Robert E Johnson, George E Fryer Jr, George Rust, David Satcher
Affiliations

The health impact of resolving racial disparities: an analysis of US mortality data

Steven H Woolf et al. Am J Public Health. 2004 Dec.

Abstract

The US health system spends far more on the "technology" of care (e.g., drugs, devices) than on achieving equity in its delivery. For 1991 to 2000, we contrasted the number of lives saved by medical advances with the number of deaths attributable to excess mortality among African Americans. Medical advances averted 176,633 deaths, but equalizing the mortality rates of Whites and African Americans would have averted 886,202 deaths. Achieving equity may do more for health than perfecting the technology of care.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Potential number of lives saved by improvements in age-adjusted mortality rates in the United States, 1991–2000. Source. Age-adjusted death rates are from Table 35: Death rates for all causes, according to sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age: United States, selected years 1950–2001. National Center for Health Statistics. Available at: ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/ NCHS/Publications/Health_US/hus03/Table035.xls. Potentially avoidable deaths were calculated as described in: http://www.vcu.edu/fp/research/AJPHaddendum.pdf.
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
Difference in age-adjusted mortality rates of Whites and African Americans in 1991–2000 and potential number of lives saved if the rates had been comparable. Source. Age-adjusted death rates are from Table 35: Death rates for all causes, according to sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age: United States, selected years 1950–2001. National Center for Health Statistics. Available at: ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_ Statistics/NCHS/Publications/Health_US/hus03/Table035.xls. Potentially avoidable deaths were calculated as described in: http://www.vcu.edu/fp/research/AJPHaddendum.pdf.
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Republished in

Comment in

  • Redistribution and health.
    Muennig P. Muennig P. Am J Public Health. 2005 Aug;95(8):1306; 1306-7. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.060350. Epub 2005 Jul 7. Am J Public Health. 2005. PMID: 16006414 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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