TY - JOUR
T1 - Racial Inequality in the Prime of Life
T2 - Infectious Disease Mortality in U.S. Cities, 1906-1933
AU - Antoine-Jones, Aja
AU - Feigenbaum, James J.
AU - Hoehn-Velasco, Lauren
AU - Muller, Christopher
AU - Wrigley-Field, Elizabeth
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Social Science History Association.
PY - 2023/6/13
Y1 - 2023/6/13
N2 - In the first half of the twentieth century, deaths from infectious disease, especially among the very young, fell dramatically in American cities. However, as infant mortality fell and life expectancy rose, racial inequality in urban infectious disease mortality grew. In this paper, we show that the fall in mortality and the rise in racial inequality in mortality reflected two countervailing processes. The dramatic decline in infant mortality from waterborne diseases drastically reduced the total urban infectious disease mortality rate of both Black and white Americans while having a comparatively small effect on the total racial disparity in urban infectious disease mortality. In contrast, the unequal fall in tuberculosis mortality, particularly in the prime of life, widened racial inequality in infectious disease mortality in US cities.
AB - In the first half of the twentieth century, deaths from infectious disease, especially among the very young, fell dramatically in American cities. However, as infant mortality fell and life expectancy rose, racial inequality in urban infectious disease mortality grew. In this paper, we show that the fall in mortality and the rise in racial inequality in mortality reflected two countervailing processes. The dramatic decline in infant mortality from waterborne diseases drastically reduced the total urban infectious disease mortality rate of both Black and white Americans while having a comparatively small effect on the total racial disparity in urban infectious disease mortality. In contrast, the unequal fall in tuberculosis mortality, particularly in the prime of life, widened racial inequality in infectious disease mortality in US cities.
KW - child mortality
KW - epidemiological transition
KW - mortality
KW - population health
KW - racial inequality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162137489&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85162137489&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/ssh.2023.4
DO - 10.1017/ssh.2023.4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85162137489
SN - 0145-5532
VL - 47
SP - 491
EP - 504
JO - Social Science History
JF - Social Science History
IS - 3
ER -
