Notably, some mixed‐race groups, such as Latinos, often don't self‐report race outside their ethnicity. A Cuban of African descent may only view themselves as Hispanic or Latino, and not as an individual of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity and Black or African American race based on their skin color. Due to this issue, “other” is a rapidly growing response to the census race question. The US Census Bureau is now considering changing to a single question to address this issue. However, it is worth pointing out that if this change happens, it will be essentially impossible to conduct intersectional research on groups like Black Latinos [3].
3.4 How and Why this Topic is Important to Minority Health and Health Disparities Research
3.4.1 The Epidemiological Profile of Racial/Ethnic Minorities
3.4.1.1 Mortality/Morbidity
In the United States, as in other industrialized nations, chronic conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the leading causes of death. However, there are differences in the leading causes of death for different racial/ethnic groups.
As reported by the National Center for Health Statistics for 2015 (see Table 3.1), the five leading causes of death for Whites, in descending order, are heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, unintended injuries, and stroke. The leading causes for Blacks are the same but in a slightly different order and instead of chronic lower respiratory disease, diabetes is among the top five. For Hispanics or Latinos, the five leading causes of death in descending order include cancer, heart disease, unintentional injuries, stroke, and diabetes. Asians or Pacific Islanders have the same top five leading causes of death as Latinos, although the order is slightly different. American Indians or Alaska Natives have similar trends to Blacks, except instead of stroke, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis are among the top five leading causes of death.
Table 3.1 Rankings of the ten leading causes of death for each racial/ethnic group, United States, 2016.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics [6].
| Cause of death | Total | White | Black or African American | Hispanic or Latino | Asian or Pacific Islander | American Indian or Alaskan Native |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heart disease | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Cancer | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Chronic lower respiratory disease | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| Unintended injuries | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Stroke | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Alzheimer's disease | 6 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 6 | — |
| Diabetes | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Influenza and pneumonia | 8 | 8 | — | 10 | 7 | 10 |
| Nephritis, nephritic syndrome, and nephrosis | 9 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Suicide | 10 | 9 | — | — | 10 | 8 |
| Homicide | — | — | 7 | — | — | — |
| Septicemia | — | — | 10 | — | — | — |
| Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis | — | — | — | 7 | — | 5 |
Notably, suicide is within the top 10 leading causes of death for Whites, Asians or Pacific Islanders, and American Indians or Alaska Natives, but not for Blacks and Latinos. It is also important to note that Blacks are the only group that have homicide among the 10 leading causes of death (seventh) [3].
3.4.1.2 Life Expectancy
Disparities can be measured in the United States in years of potential life lost before age 75, defined as an estimation of the average time an individual would have lived if he or she had not died early due to race and ethnicity [7]. Years of potential life lost for Blacks is higher than for all other groups (see Table 3.2). In 2015, the crude estimate for Blacks is 9764.6 years of potential life lost per 100 000 population under age 75. The lowest figure is observed among Asians or Pacific Islanders: 3073.6 years of potential life lost. Though the highest figures of years of potential life lost are among Blacks, there has been a decreasing trend, from 17 873.4 years in 1980 to 9702.3 years in 2015.
Table 3.2 Years of potential life lost before age 75 (per 100 000 population under age 75) for all causes of death by race and ethnicity, United States, selected years 1980–2015.
Source: National