Reassessing the Sources of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U. S. Adult Mortality (Essay‪)‬

Introduction Although there have been significant declines in US mortality rates in the past thirty years, there remain significant racial/ethnic differentials. For instance, in 2001, overall mortality was 31 percent higher for African Americans than for white Americans. When specific causes of death are considered, in 2001, age-adjusted death rates in the African American population exceeded those in the white population by 40 percent for stroke, 29 percent for heart disease, 25 percent for cancer, and nearly 800 percent for human immunodeficiency virus disease (NCHS 2003, p. 7).