Over the past two decades, there has been growing interest in improving black men's health and the health disparities affecting them. Yet, the health of black men consistently ranks lowest across nearly all groups in the United States.
Evidence on the health and social causes of morbidity and mortality among black men has been narrowly concentrated on public health problems (e.g., violence, prostate cancer, and HIV/AIDS) and determinants of health (e.g., education and male gender socialization). This limited focus omits age-specific leading causes of death and other social determinants of health, such as discrimination, segregation, access to health care, employment, and income. This review discusses the leading causes of death for black men and the associated risk factors, as well as identifies gaps in the literature and presents a racialized and gendered framework to guide efforts to address the persistent inequities in health affecting black men.
Annual review of public health. 2016 Mar 18 [Epub]
Keon L Gilbert, Rashawn Ray, Arjumand Siddiqi, Shivan Shetty, Elizabeth A Baker, Keith Elder, Derek M Griffith
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education and., Department of Sociology, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Maryland 20742., Division of Epidemiology and., Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education and., Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education and., Department of Health Management and Policy, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63104; Center for Medicine, Health, and Society and.