Understanding disparities in the burden of mortality as a step towards health equity in the USA

Health equity as defined by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities is “the principle underlying the continual process of assuring that all individuals or populations have optimal opportunities to attain the best health possible”. 1 National Institute on Minority Health and Health DisparitiesWhat is health equity?. https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/resources/understanding-health-disparities/health-equity.htmlDate: 2023 Date accessed: July 6, 2023 Google Scholar In the USA, health equity is not yet assured for all racial and ethnic groups. Disparities in mortality have greatly affected minoritised individuals, 2 Lawrence WR McGee-Avila JK Vo JB et al. Trends in cancer mortality among Black individuals in the US from 1999 to 2019. JAMA Oncol. 2022; 8: 1184-1189 Crossref PubMed Scopus (20) Google Scholar , 3 Haque AT Berrington de González A Chen Y et al. Cancer mortality rates by racial and ethnic groups in the United States, 2018-2020. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2023; 115: 822-830 Crossref PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar , 4 Shiels MS Haque AT Berrington de González A Freedman ND Leading causes of death in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, March 2020 to October 2021. JAMA Intern Med. 2022; 182: 883-886 Crossref PubMed Scopus (39) Google Scholar with regional differences being attributable to multiple factors, including structural racism, access to health care, socioeconomic status, environmental exposures, and other health determinants. 5 Dankwa-Mullan I Pérez-Stable EJ Gardner KL Zhang X Rosario A The science of health disparities research. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford2021 Crossref Scopus (20) Google Scholar To assure health equity, we must identify and characterise disparities in which populations are affected by suboptimal health outcomes associated with race, ethnicity, and geography (eg, county). Cause-specific mortality by county, race, and ethnicity in the USA, 2000–19: a systematic analysis of health disparitiesDisparities in mortality among racial–ethnic groups are ubiquitous, occurring across locations in the USA and for a wide range of health conditions. There is an urgent need to address the shared structural factors driving these widespread disparities. Full-Text PDF