African Americans in the US are dying faster than Caucasian Americans. This is the conclusion drawn by two researchers; postdoctoral research fellow, Sam Harper and Professor John Lynch both from the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health after examining 46 million death certificates in the US spanning 20 years. HIV, homicide and cardiovascular disease explains the gap between the two groups. Life expectancy for Blacks is six and a half years less than it is for white men. For black women the gap is four and a half years.
“We found that cardiovascular disease explained about 30 percent of the existing gap for men and about 40 percent for women” said the researchers.
