Report highlights decades-long disparity in child mortality

A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine reveals that black infants and children in the United States have consistently died at twice the rate of their white counterparts since 1950. The study, titled “Excess mortality rate in black children since 1950 in the United States: a 70-year population-based study of racial inequalities,” estimates that this disparity has led to over 5 million preventable deaths.

Systemic issues contribute to crisis

Experts attribute this ongoing crisis to systemic factors, including limited healthcare access, economic inequality, and racial disparities. The researchers analyzed mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Census Bureau reports, covering death records from 1950 to 2019.

According to the findings, while absolute gaps in life expectancy and age-standardized mortality between black and white Americans have narrowed over the past seven decades, relative mortality in infants and children has increased.

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Increasing gap in child mortality rates

In the 1950s, mortality rates for white and black infants were 2,703 and 5,181 deaths per 100,000 persons, respectively, reflecting an excess mortality ratio of 1.92. By the 2010s, white infant mortality had dropped to 499 deaths per 100,000 while black infant mortality was 1,073 deaths per 100,000, pushing the excess mortality ratio to 2.15.

The study estimates that 5 million black American deaths, including more than 522,000 infants, could have been prevented over the past 70 years if black children had experienced the same mortality rates as white children.

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