African Americans Mortality, Health and Health Care Utilization

Mian B. Hossain, Morgan State University
Laurencia S. Hutton, Morgan State University
Yvonne Bronner, Morgan State University

There is a gap between African-Americans and whites in terms of health status. The health of an individual depends greatly on access to health care. Expanding access to quality health is important to eliminate health disparities and to increase the quality of healthy life for all people living in the US. Health status can be measured by leading causes of death, life expectancy, infant mortality and morbidity. The life expectancy is 72 years for Africans American and 78 years for whites. The infant mortality rates are twice as high for African Americans as for whites. African Americans are also twice as likely to have diabetes as whites. Diabetes related death rates are 27 percent higher for African Americans than Whites. The purpose of the study is to provide the health status of African American compared to whites. The data for this study are taken from CDC and DHHS.