Trends in black health.

Abstract

DEATH is, contrary to the proverbial wisdom, a respecter of persons. It comes earlier to the poor than to the rich, earlier to the illiterate than to the lettered, earlier to the laborer than to the lawyer, earlier to the divorced and separated than to the married. For these and for other reasons it comes earlier to blacks than to whites. The disadvantage of blacks is apparent even before birth. The death of the fetus within the womb is more common among blacks than among whites, and newly born black babies are more likely than white babies to die during that dangerous first year. As they grow up, black children are faced with more dangers than other children, both from parasites and from society. Adulthood makes matters worse, and it is not until old age that the greatly thinned black survivors are as likely to live from one year to the next as are other Americans. For all of the major groupings of causes of death save one, blacks have relatively high rates. Blacks are more likely than the general population to die from heart attacks or from strokes. Though a darker skin protects against skin cancer, neoplasms in general claim more black than white victims. One of the mysteries of modern medicine is the great incidence of hypertension among black Americans. Infectious diseases, once the greatest killer of blacks, are no longer of such import, but influenza and pneumonia still wreak havoc, as do venereal diseases. Of special importance to blacks are accidents and homicide, the latter of which increases yearly. The one exception to this gloomy litany is suicide. Blacks, male and female, are still more reluctant than whites to perform this final act, but rates of self-destruction among blacks are moving toward those of whites. Age by age, and almost cause by cause, death is more common among black males than among black females, and this in itself is a deterrant to economic improvement. Even in the womb death is selective of the