FRIDAY, April 2, 2021 (HealthDay News) – The diabetes death rate is higher among blacks than whites. According to a study published in the March issue of Diabetes, the death rate among blacks between 2013 and 2017 is 2.21 times higher than that of white research and clinical practice.
Joanna Buscemi, Ph.D., of DePaul University in Chicago, and colleagues used key statistical mortality data and population estimates from the American Community Survey to calculate black and white death rates and differences, and changes in death rates and inequalities between 2008 and 2012 to compare (T1) and 2013 to 2017 (T2).
The researchers found that the US diabetes death rate at T1 was 20.91 per 100,000 and increased significantly to 21.05 at T2. The highest diabetes mortality rate at both time points was observed in El Paso (33.06 and 35.98 at T1 and T2, respectively), while the lowest rates were observed in San Francisco (11.41 and 13.18 at T1 and T2, respectively) were. At T2, the US black death rate was 2.21 times higher than the white death rate. In 11 cities, the rate rates at T2 were significantly higher than the rate rates in the United States, with the black and white rate rate in Washington, DC being about three times higher than the national rate rate.
“The recent public talks about COVID-19 inequalities have focused on the racial inequalities that have persisted throughout US history,” the authors write. “Diabetes has also become part of that conversation as diabetes increases the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.”
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