Study: Lower Mortality Rate For Majority in Segregated Areas

People who are among a racial majority in highly segregated areas of New York have lower mortality rates than those who are among a minority or living in areas where there is no definite majority, a new study shows.Published in the latest issue of the “Journal of Urban Health,” the study used Census data from 2000 to determine the mortality rates of whites, Latinos, and blacks who lived in ZIP codes where they were the racial majority compared with those who lived in ZIP codes where they were the minority or where there was no clear majority.While the results consistently showed lower mortality rates for both whites and blacks when they were in the majority, results were not consistent throughout the Latino population, a finding the study’s authors attributed in part to the relative youth of the Latino population.The study also noted that blacks had a significantly higher mortality rate than either whites or Latinos.“What the study can’t explore is the option of a desegregated city” where ethnic and racial minorities can exist without “being rejected, or alienated, or subjected to a lack of support services,” the legal director of the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York, Richard Bellman, said.The study urges a critical look be taken at why mortality rates are lower in homogenous areas and to attempt to apply any advantages to groups that are in the minority.The primary author of the study, Sanae Inagami, said the study did not indicate why mortality rates might be lower in segregated areas. “We’ve got to try to figure out what is going on before we try to make intervention,” she said. She suggested that better communication or advocacy efforts within one racial group could lead to advantages such as better health care opportunities. Dr. Inagami stressed that ultimately there should be an effort to extend the advantages found in homogenous communities across the racial divide.Dr. Inagami and Mr. Bellman said they saw the high mortality rate of blacks as the largest problem, one Dr. Inagami said could be attributed, in part, to economic disparity and a lack of resources.“Segregation of poor people from rich people causes divestment from poor areas,” she said. “People are unemployed, uneducated, and it becomes a problem that most likely explains much of the mortality differences. …“It’s prejudice. It’s daily stress. It’s racism. So how do you get around that? Well, boy. We’ve been working at it since the ’60s,” she said.

Study: Lower Mortality Rate For Majority in Segregated Areas

Study: Lower Mortality Rate For Majority in Segregated Areas

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