#COVID-19 reduced US life expectancy, especially among Black and Latino populations
▻https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-covid-life-black-latino-populations.html
The declines in life expectancy are likely even starker among minority populations. For Blacks, the researchers project their life expectancy would shorten by 2.10 years to 72.78 years, and for Latinos, by 3.05 years to 78.77 years.
Whites are also impacted, but their projected decline is much smaller—0.68 years—to a life expectancy of 77.84 years.
Overall, the gap in life expectancy between Blacks and whites is projected to widen by 40%, from 3.6 to more than 5 years—further evidence of the disease’s disparate impact on disadvantaged populations.
“Our study analyzes the effect of this exceptional number of deaths on life expectancy for the entire nation, as well as the consequences for marginalized groups,” said study author Theresa Andrasfay, a postdoctoral fellow at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. “The COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate effect on the life expectancy of Black and Latino Americans likely has to do with their greater exposure through their workplace or extended family contacts, in addition to receiving poorer health care, leading to more infections and worse outcomes.”
Source:
Reductions in 2020 US life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on the Black and Latino populations | PNAS
▻https://www.pnas.org/content/118/5/e2014746118
