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Study: Ending racial disparities could save more lives than technology

Physician Practice Advisor, December 21, 2004

Five times as many lives could be saved by reducing the mortality rate of African-Americans to the rate of whites than what could be saved by improvements in medical technology, according to a recent study published in the December edition of the American Journal of Public Health.

Using data from 1991 to 2000, the authors of "The Health Impact of Resolving Racial Disparities: An Analysis of US Mortality Data," 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 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," said the researchers.

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