The Role Of Racial Inequality In Health

Racial inequality in health can either be a biological factor or an environmental factor if not a mixture of both, regardless there are differences between races. Common diseases that affect all races include high blood pressure, heart diseases, diabetes, and certain cancers. What we are looking for here is which race seem to be more susceptible to which diseases and why. High blood pressure is more commonly seen in African American and their ancestry throughout times. It is because of this African Americans have been noticed to be more susceptible to hypertension, a disease which diminishes life expectancy in those who have it. The quick answer for this could simply be because African American just naturally have higher blood pressure which often leads to other problems such as hypertension, but unfortunately, it is not that easy. We have yet to consider other factors that could potentially affect one's blood pressure rather than simply saying genetics. Those other factor include poverty, residential …show more content…
This is proven if we were to look at the death rate of African American and Caucasian for heart disease back in 1950 in comparison to now. In the 1950s the death rate of both races were comparable, or similar, but now African American clearly have a higher death rate than those who are Caucasian. This only proves that genetic does play a role in one's health just as much as environmental factors do. Another example that genetic plays a role would be in the comparison of death rate of infant mortality by a mother’s education. This works because those who are generally more educated tend to know more and care for their infant better and this therefore should decrease infant mortality. Yet ironically, African American mothers with college degree still had a higher percentage of infant mortality in comparison to those of differing races without a college