Increased homicide played a key role in driving Black-White disparities in life expectancy among men during the COVID-19 pandemic

Disparities in life expectancy between Black and White Americans increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the same period, the US experienced the largest increase in homicide on record. Yet, little research has examined the contribution of homicide to Black-White disparities in l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-08, Vol.19 (8), p.e0308105
Main Authors: Light, Michael T, Vachuska, Karl
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Age groups
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biology and Life Sciences
Black or African American - statistics & numerical data
Black people
COVID-19
Decomposition
Demographic aspects
Economic aspects
Estimates
Ethnicity
Health aspects
Health care disparities
Health Status Disparities
Homicide
Homicide - ethnology
Homicide - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Inequality
Life expectancy
Life Expectancy - ethnology
Life Expectancy - trends
Life span
Longevity
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Men
Middle Aged
Mortality
Murder
Pandemics
Population
Population statistics
Prevention
Public health
Race
Racial differences
Social aspects
Social Sciences
Statistics
United States - epidemiology
White - statistics & numerical data
White people
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Summary:Disparities in life expectancy between Black and White Americans increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the same period, the US experienced the largest increase in homicide on record. Yet, little research has examined the contribution of homicide to Black-White disparities in longevity in recent years. Using mortality data and population estimates, we conduct a comprehensive decomposition of the drivers of Black-White inequality in life expectancy and lifespan variability between 2019 and 2021 among men. We find that homicide is one of the principal reasons why lifespans have become shorter for Black men than White men in recent years. In 2020 and 2021, homicide was the leading contributor to inequality in both life expectancy and lifespan variability between Black and White men, accounting for far more of the racial gap in longevity and variability than deaths from COVID-19. Addressing homicides should be at the forefront of any public health discussion aimed at promoting racial health equity.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0308105