Ending Racial
Disparities in Health Care Could Save Five Times More Lives Than Tech Advances
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Lives saved by reducing the mortality rate of African-Americans to the rate of whites are five times those that could be saved by improvements in medical technology. So said the authors of "The Health Impact of Resolving Racial Disparities: An Analysis of US Mortality Data," published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Using data from 1991 to 2000, the authors estimated that 886,202 deaths could have been averted had the death rate of African Americans and whites been comparable during this time period. The authors calculated that technological advances during those years averted 176,633 deaths.
The authors explained that it would take years to fully determine the differences in the benefits of the two approaches, but pointed out that policy-makers need some guidance now. Because a five-fold difference in averted deaths was observed, the researchers stated that more precise calculations would be unlikely to change the direction of their findings.
"The prudence of investing billions in the development of new
drugs and technologies while investing only a fraction of that amount in the
correction of disparities deserves reconsideration. It is an imbalance that may
claim more lives than it saves," concluded the researchers.
SOURCES:
American Journal of Public Health, December 2004
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