Racial Gaps Remain Despite Overall Jump in Life Expectancy

Researchers found that over the past 20 years, the overall average life expectancy in the US increased, but life expectancy for the Black population remained lower than that of the White population.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a medical research institution that conducts basic, clinical, and translational studies. The new study published in The Lancet was led by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine and the NIH's National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), which aims to improve minority health through research on eliminating disparities.

For the study, the researchers examined how health outcomes, particularly life expectancy, changed between 2000 and 2019. Although they discovered a 2.3-year increase in average life expectancy, they also found that the increase varied across different races.

At the national level, between 2000 and 2019, the increase in life expectancy was 3.9 years for Black people, 2.9 years for Asians, 2.7 years for the Latino population, and 1.7 years for White people.

Although life expectancy increased among the Black population, the average number still fell below the White population.

At the county level, researchers observed that 88 percent of areas had an increase in life expectancy, although most of that progress occurred between 2000 and 2010.

“These varied outcomes in life expectancy raise significant questions. Why is life expectancy worse for some and better for others? The novel details in this study provide us the opportunity to evaluate the impact of social and structural determinants on health outcomes in unprecedented ways. This, in turn, allows us to better identify responsive and enduring interventions for local communities,” said Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD, co-author, and director of the NIMHD, in a press release.

Researchers also believe that the COVID-19 pandemic, which began after the conclusion of data collection, negatively affected vulnerable populations. Early 2020 estimates from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control show substantial declines in life expectancy overall and for the Black, Latino, and White people, specifically.

Racial disparities are common in healthcare, and the pandemic shone a harsh light on these inequities.

For example, a study published in June 2020 reported that Black people who had received a heart transplant might be at higher risk for poor COVID-19 outcomes. Researchers found that the patients in the study sample, all Black men, experienced severe symptoms of COVID-19.

Another study published in May 2021 presented data showing how racism played a key role in COVID-19 death rates. After reviewing information for 35 states, researchers used age-adjusted data to determine that previous studies that used crude death rates led to inaccurate findings and that racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths were widespread.