10 Summary
Key Takeaways
- Poverty and low socioeconomic status are strongly associated with increased risks for chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. These conditions contribute to shorter life expectancy and higher mortality rates. In the United States, people of color, particularly African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indian or Alaska Natives—are disproportionately represented among those living in poverty and experience significantly worse health outcomes compared to white individuals.
- While adverse social determinants of health (SDoH) play a critical role in these disparities, the impact of racism and discrimination must also be acknowledged. Research has shown that Black Americans experience poorer health outcomes even when controlling for education and income. Chronic exposure to everyday discrimination has been linked to the development of conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mental health disorders.
- Systemic issues within healthcare further exacerbate these disparities. Physician implicit bias, the pathologizing of race, negative stereotypes, and inadequate training on the relationship between SDoH and health all contribute to substandard care for Black patients. These factors create barriers to equitable treatment and worsen health outcomes.
- One of the most alarming examples is maternal mortality. Black women in the U.S. face a maternal mortality rate that is 243% higher than that of white women, regardless of income or education. The tragic deaths of Shalon Irving, Kira Dixon Johnson, and Krystal Anderson—highly educated, healthy Black women—underscore the deadly consequences of systemic racism in healthcare.
- Disparities in research funding also reflect racial inequities. Sickle cell disease, which primarily affects individuals of African descent, impacts three times as many people as cystic fibrosis, a condition more common among white Americans. Yet, cystic fibrosis receives seven to ten times more research funding and has 15 FDA-approved treatments, compared to only four for sickle cell disease.
- Despite mounting evidence linking racism to health disparities, medical journals often fail to publish research that explores these connections. This lack of representation hinders progress and limits the broader understanding of how racism shapes health outcomes. When such studies are published, they frequently highlight the disproportionate experiences of perceived racism and inadequate care among African Americans and other people of color, but they rarely link the two
