Abstract:
- Blacks experience morbidity and mortality earlier in the life course compared to whites. Such premature declines in health may be indicative of an acceleration of the aging process. The current study uses data on 7,644 black and white participants, ages 30 and above, from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, to compare the biological ages of blacks and whites as indicated from a combination of ten biomarkers and to determine if such differences in biological age relative to chronological age account for racial disparities in mortality. At a specified chronological age, blacks are approximately 3 years older biologically than whites. Differences in biological age between blacks and whites appear to increase up until ages 60-65 and then decline, presumably due to mortality selection. Finally, differences in biological age were found to completely account for higher levels of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality among blacks. Overall, these results suggest that being black is associated with significantly higher biological age at a given chronological age and that this is a pathway to early death both overall and from the major age-related diseases.
PS Mag writeup.
Wow, this is fascinating. I wonder if the results are linked to this study: This study was brought up in the article discussed in this thread about the disproportionate discipline of young black children, which you might be interested in. I have a strong intuition the results of these studies are intrinsically linked.The students were also shown photographs alongside descriptions of various crimes and asked to assess the age and innocence of white, black or Latino boys ages 10 to 17. The students overestimated the age of blacks by an average of 4.5 years and found them more culpable than whites or Latinos, particularly when the boys were matched with serious crimes, the study found.
More likely a demonstration of the influence of socioeconomic status on life expectancy, surely?
Last Christmas, an old white guy bet my black grandfather money that he was older than him. He did so with complete and utter confidence. My grandfather had the guy beat by almost 20 years. He's pushing 90, the white guy was in his early 70s.