Black Public Health
Hypertension Among Black Adults: Prevalence, Control, and Consequences
About 55 percent of Black adults have hypertension — the highest rate of any U.S. group. Prevalence, onset, control, and the stroke, heart, and kidney consequences in the data.
Diabetes Among Black Adults: Prevalence and Complications
Nearly one in five Black adults has diabetes, diagnosed or undiagnosed — and its complications fall with particular weight. The CDC data on prevalence, control, and outcomes.
Black Life Expectancy: The Gap at Birth and Its Causes
Black life expectancy at birth is about 73 years, roughly five years below the national figure — the summary measure of every health gap in this section. The CDC data.
Health Insurance Coverage Among Black Americans
About one in ten Black Americans is uninsured. Employer plans cover about half, and Medicaid covers roughly one in five — the coverage data behind every health statistic on this site.
Black Maternal and Infant Health: Mortality and Birth Outcomes
Black mothers die from pregnancy-related causes at about two and a half times the White rate, and Black infants at more than twice the White rate. The CDC vital statistics.
Cancer Among Black Americans: Incidence and Mortality
Black Americans develop cancer at rates near the national figure but die from it at higher rates — with the widest gaps in prostate and breast cancer. The CDC and American Cancer Society data.
Heart Disease Among Black Adults: The Leading Cause of Death
Heart disease kills Black adults at rates well above the national figure, and at younger ages. The CDC data on mortality, heart failure, and risk factors.
Obesity Among Black Adults: Half the Population, by Measurement
About half of Black adults — and nearly 57 percent of Black women — meet the clinical definition of obesity in the federal examination surveys. The NHANES data.
Black Mental Health: Prevalence, Treatment, and the Provider Gap
Black adults report serious mental illness at rates near the national figure but receive treatment at lower rates — from a provider workforce that is a few percent Black. The federal data.
Asthma Among Black Americans: The Childhood Burden
Black children develop asthma at roughly twice the national rate and die from it at several times the rate. The CDC surveillance data.
Kidney Disease and Black Americans: A Third of All Dialysis
Black Americans are 13 percent of the population and roughly a third of the nation's dialysis patients. The kidney data, from early disease to transplant.
Stroke Among Black Adults: Earlier, More Often, in the Stroke Belt
Black adults have strokes younger and more often than the nation — with risk concentrated in the Southeast's 'Stroke Belt.' The CDC and REGARDS data.
Alzheimer's and Dementia Among Black Older Adults
Older Black Americans develop Alzheimer's and related dementias at roughly twice the rate of older White Americans — and are diagnosed later. The data.
Sickle Cell Disease: The Most Common Inherited Blood Disorder in Black America
About 100,000 Americans live with sickle cell disease — overwhelmingly Black, at roughly 1 in every 365 Black births. The CDC data profile.
HIV in Black America: The Epidemiology Data
Black Americans account for roughly 40 percent of new HIV diagnoses at about 13 percent of the population — with the South carrying the majority of cases. The CDC surveillance profile.
Smoking and Tobacco Use Among Black Adults: Rates, Menthol, and Outcomes
About 11 percent of Black adults smoke — near the national rate — with menthol cigarettes used by roughly 85 percent of Black smokers. The CDC tobacco data.
Colorectal Cancer and Screening in Black Adults: The Preventable Gap
Black adults record the nation's highest colorectal cancer incidence and mortality — and screening rates that have nearly closed the gap. The CDC and cancer-registry data.
Prostate Cancer in Black Men: The Highest Rates in the World
Black men record the highest prostate cancer incidence of any population in the world — and die of it at roughly twice the rate of White men. The registry data.
Breast Cancer Screening in Black Women: Equal Mammograms, Unequal Outcomes
Black women are screened for breast cancer at rates equal to White women's — and die of it at rates about 40 percent higher. The screening paradox in the data.
Black Health Care Workers: The Workforce That Carries the System
Black workers are about one in eight of the health care workforce — concentrated in its aide and support ranks and thinnest among physicians. The workforce data.
Oral Health in Black America: The Mouth the System Treats Separately
Black Americans record higher rates of untreated tooth decay and tooth loss at every age — in the one branch of health care Medicare mostly excludes. The CDC dental data.
Black Infant Mortality: The Rate That Refuses the Century
Black infants die in their first year at about two and a half times the rate of White infants — a gap as wide as it was generations ago. The vital statistics data.
Lead Exposure and Black Children: The Environmental File
Black children have carried the nation's highest blood lead levels for fifty years of measurement. The CDC surveillance data and the housing file behind them.
COPD and Respiratory Health in Black Adults: The Under-Diagnosed Lung File
Black adults develop serious lung disease earlier and are diagnosed later — and the spirometry reference standards themselves are being rewritten. The respiratory data.
Vaccination in Black America: Coverage Data from Flu Seasons to the Pandemic
Black vaccination rates trail on influenza and HPV, converge on childhood series, and wrote the pandemic's most-tracked equity data. The CDC coverage files.
Colorectal Cancer in Black Adults: The Screening-Age Disease Arriving Early
Black adults develop colorectal cancer more often, younger, and die of it at the highest rates of any major group. The SEER and screening data.
Lupus and Autoimmune Disease in Black Women: The Body's Civil War
Lupus strikes Black women at two to three times the rate of White women — younger, harder, and with deadlier kidney involvement. The CDC lupus registries.
Substance Use and Overdose in Black America: The Epidemic's Second Wave
Drug overdose deaths among Black Americans rose past White rates in the fentanyl era. The CDC mortality and treatment data.
Sleep Health in Black America: The Shortest Nights in the Data
Black adults sleep less and worse than any other group in the federal sleep data — a disparity that feeds the chronic disease files. The CDC and research data.
Black Men's Health: The Mortality File and the Screening Data
Black men have the shortest life expectancy of any major American demographic and the lowest rates of routine care. The vital statistics and screening data.
Black Children's Health: Asthma, Weight, and the Adolescent Turn
Black children carry the nation's highest asthma rates and rising adolescent mental-health needs, inside a well-insured, well-vaccinated pediatric system. The CDC and NSCH data.
Sexual Health in Black America: The STI Data and the Prevention Ledger
Sexually transmitted infection rates run highest among Black Americans — a network and access phenomenon the CDC data describe precisely. The surveillance profile.
Black Women's Health: Longer Lives, Heavier Loads
Black women outlive Black men by about six years while carrying higher rates of nearly every chronic condition. The consolidated women's health data.