(Press-News.org) Homicide is a major reason behind lower and more variable reduction in life expectancy for Black rather than White men in recent years, according to a new study published August 21, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Michael Light and Karl Vachuska of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a staggering drop in U.S. life expectancy and substantially widened Black-White disparities in lifespan. It also coincided with the largest one-year increase in the U.S. homicide rate in more than a century, with Black men bearing the brunt of these. Despite these trends, there has been limited research on the contribution of homicide to Black-White disparities in life expectancy during the pandemic.
In the new study, researchers used mortality data and multiple cause of death data files from the National Vital Statistics System division of the National Center for Health Statistics. The data spanned 2019 to 2021, and causes of death were organized into 20 main groupings.
Whereas Black men were expected to live on average 71.4 years in 2019, this dropped to 67.7 years in 2020. For White men, the corresponding decline was only from 76.4 years to 74.9 years. As a result, the life expectancy racial gap jumped from 5.0 to 7.2 fewer years for Black relative to White men.
The researchers found that in 2020 and 2021, homicide was the leading contributor to inequality both in life expectancy and in lifespan variability between Black and White men. Homicide accounted for far more of the racial gap in longevity and lifespan variability than deaths due to COVID-19. In 2021, for instance, the impact of homicide on the racial gap in lifespan variability was nine times greater than deaths from COVID-19.
The authors conclude that addressing homicides should be at the forefront of any public health discussion aimed at promoting racial health equity.
The authors add: “Increased 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.”
#####
In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0308105
Citation: Light MT, Vachuska K (2024) Increased homicide played a key role in driving Black-White disparities in life expectancy among men during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0308105. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308105
Author Countries: United States
Funding: This research is supported by the Romnes Faculty Fellowship provided by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
END
Homicide rates are a major factor in the gap between Black and White life expectancy
The racial life expectancy gap in 2020 and 2021 was driven by homicide rates even more than by COVID-19 deaths
2024-08-21
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Human-wildlife overlap expected to increase across more than half of land on Earth by 2070
2024-08-21
ANN ARBOR—As the human population grows, more than half of Earth's land will experience an increasing overlap between humans and animals by 2070, according to a University of Michigan study.
Greater human-wildlife overlap could lead to more conflict between people and animals, say the U-M researchers. But understanding where the overlap is likely to occur—and which animals are likely to interact with humans in specific areas—will be crucial information for urban planners, conservationists and countries that have pledged international conservation commitments. Their findings ...
Freeze-frame: U of A researchers develop world's fastest microscope that can see electrons in motion
2024-08-21
Imagine owning a camera so powerful it can take freeze-frame photographs of a moving electron – an object traveling so fast it could circle the Earth many times in a matter of a second. Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed the world's fastest electron microscope that can do just that.
They believe their work will lead to groundbreaking advancements in physics, chemistry, bioengineering, materials sciences and more.
"When you get the latest version of a smartphone, it comes with a better camera," said Mohammed Hassan, associate professor of physics and optical sciences. "This transmission electron microscope is ...
Study finds highest prediction of sea-level rise unlikely
2024-08-21
In recent years, the news about Earth's climate—from raging wildfires and stronger hurricanes, to devastating floods and searing heat waves—has provided little good news.
A new Dartmouth-led study, however, reports that one of the very worst projections of how high the world's oceans might rise as the planet's polar ice sheets melt is highly unlikely—though it stresses that the accelerating loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctica is nonetheless dire.
The study challenges a new and alarming prediction in the latest high-profile report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on ...
New study reveals devastating power and colossal extent of a giant underwater avalanche off the Moroccan coast
2024-08-21
New research by the University of Liverpool has revealed how an underwater avalanche grew more than 100 times in size causing a huge trail of destruction as it travelled 2000km across the Atlantic Ocean seafloor off the North West coast of Africa.
In a study publishing in the journal Science Advances (and featured on the front cover), researchers provide an unprecedented insight into the scale, force and impact of one of nature’s mysterious phenomena, underwater avalanches.
Dr Chris Stevenson, a sedimentologist from the University of Liverpool’s School of Environmental Sciences, co-led the team that for the first time has mapped a giant underwater avalanche from head ...
To kill mammoths in the Ice Age, people used planted pikes, not throwing spears, researchers say
2024-08-21
How did early humans use sharpened rocks to bring down megafauna 13,000 years ago? Did they throw spears tipped with carefully crafted, razor-sharp rocks called Clovis points? Did they surround and jab mammoths and mastadons? Or did they scavenge wounded animals, using Clovis points as a versatile tool to harvest meat and bones for food and supplies?
UC Berkeley archaeologists say the answer might be none of the above.
Instead, researchers say humans may have braced the butt of their pointed spears against the ground and angled the weapon upward in a way that would impale a charging animal. The force would have driven the spear deeper ...
Using AI to link heat waves to global warming
2024-08-21
Researchers at Stanford and Colorado State University have developed a rapid, low-cost approach for studying how individual extreme weather events have been affected by global warming. Their method, detailed in a Aug. 21 study in Science Advances, uses machine learning to determine how much global warming has contributed to heat waves in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years. The approach proved highly accurate and could change how scientists study and predict the impact of climate change on a range of extreme weather events. The ...
The role of an energy-producing enzyme in treating Parkinson’s disease
2024-08-21
An enzyme called PGK1 has an unexpectedly critical role in the production of chemical energy in brain cells, according to a preclinical study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The investigators found that boosting its activity may help the brain resist the energy deficits that can lead to Parkinson’s disease.
The study, published Aug. 21 in Science Advances, presented evidence that PGK1 is a “rate-limiting” enzyme in energy production in the output-signaling branches, or axons, of the dopamine neurons that are affected in Parkinson’s disease. This means that even a modest boost to PGK1 activity can have ...
Life from a drop of rain: New research suggests rainwater helped form the first protocell walls
2024-08-21
One of the major unanswered questions about the origin of life is how droplets of RNA floating around the primordial soup turned into the membrane-protected packets of life we call cells.
A new paper by engineers from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME), the University of Houston’s Chemical Engineering Department, and biologists from the UChicago Chemistry Department, have proposed a solution.
In the paper, published today in Science Advances, UChicago PME postdoctoral researcher Aman Agrawal and his co-authors ...
Surprising mechanism for removing dead cells identified
2024-08-21
Billions of our cells die every day to make way for the growth of new ones. Most of these goners are cleaned up by phagocytes—mobile immune cells that migrate where needed to engulf problematic substances. But some dying or dead cells are consumed by their own neighbors, natural tissue cells with other primary jobs. How these cells sense the dying or dead around them has been largely unknown.
Now researchers from The Rockefeller University have shown how the sensor system operates in hair follicles, which have a well-known cycle of birth, decay, and regeneration put into motion by hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs). In a new study published in Nature, ...
UC Irvine discovery of ‘item memory’ brain cells offers new Alzheimer’s treatment target
2024-08-21
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 21, 2024 — Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have discovered the neurons responsible for “item memory,” deepening our understanding of how the brain stores and retrieves the details of “what” happened and offering a new target for treating Alzheimer’s disease.
Memories include three types of details: spatial, temporal and item, the “where, when and what” of an event. Their creation is a complex process that involves storing information based on the meanings and outcomes of different experiences and forms the foundation of our ability to recall and recount them.
The study, published ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Michigan State University's James Madison College receives over $1 million to launch civic education academy
White paper on recovering from burnout through mentoring released by University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies
Defunct Pennsylvania oil and gas wells may leak methane, metals into water
Kessler Foundation’s John DeLuca, PhD, honored with Reitan Clinical Excellence Award from National Academy of Neuropsychology
Discordance in creatinine- and cystatin C–based eGFR and clinical outcomes
Disagreement between two kidney function tests predicts serious health problems
American College of Cardiology, OpenEvidence to advance AI-enabled, evidence-based cardiovascular care
OHSU researchers develop promising drug for aggressive breast cancer
Evaluating the potential of a sleep intervention among youth at high-risk for borderline personality disorder
Saturn’s icy moon may host a stable ocean fit for life, study finds
More children, shorter lifespan? Clear evidence from the Great Finnish Famine
Climate intervention techniques could reduce the nutritional value of crops
Mapping resilient supply solutions for graphite, a critical mineral powering energy storage: Rice experts’ take
Effects of sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors by diabetes status and level of albuminuria
Young people using unregulated nicotine pouches despite health risks
New study finds family and caregivers can help spot post-surgery delirium early
High-impact clinical trials generate promising results for improving kidney health - part 2
More Americans are on dialysis. Could more safely wean off it?
A conservative dialysis strategy and kidney function recovery in dialysis-requiring acute kidney injury
More Americans, especially Black adults, are dying before they can access Medicare benefits
Death Valley plant reveals blueprint for building heat-resilient crops
Racial disparities in premature mortality and unrealized Medicare benefits across US states
Heat- and cold-related mortality burden in the US from 2000 to 2020
Research hints at the potential of pain relief with CBD
Dr. Johnson V. John appointed as a Standing Member of the NIH Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering (MTE) Study Section
TCF/LEF transcription factors emerge as druggable targets in Wnt signaling, offering new hope for fibrosis and cancer therapies
New alloy design could power solid-state batteries that charge faster and last longer
Discovery to display: FAU unveils the ‘Art of Science’ winners
Achieving electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction based on Ruddlesden-Popper type cathode catalyst for solid oxide fuel cells
Ceramic-based electromagnetic interference shielding materials: mechanisms, optimization strategies, and pathways to next-generation applications
[Press-News.org] Homicide rates are a major factor in the gap between Black and White life expectancyThe racial life expectancy gap in 2020 and 2021 was driven by homicide rates even more than by COVID-19 deaths