African-American women make up 13.1% of all women in the US.

Mortality rates for African-American women are higher than any other racial/ethnic group for nearly every major cause of death including heart disease, lung cancer, cerebrovascular disease, breast cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.(1)

Arthritis:

Arthritis is the third most common chronic condition and the leading cause of activity limitation in African Americans.(2)

Autoimmune Disease:

	African American women are three times more likely than white women to get lupus.(3)
	African American women tend to have more severe disease than do white women. For example, African American women are more likely to suffer seizures and strokes.(3)
	The death rate from Lupus among black women rose by 70%. There was only a small increase in what was reported in the rate for white women.(4)

Cancer:

	African-Americans are more likely to develop cancer than any other racial/ethnic group in the United States.(5)
	African Americans are almost twice as likely to die of cancer than any other minority group, and 20% more likely than whites.(6)
	The frequency of premenopausal breast cancer in African-American women is twice the rate of Caucasians. Studies show that in most instances, that in African-American women, by age 40, the cancer has already spread.(7)
	Although the overall rate of breast cancer in African-American women is not as high as compared to white women, they suffer the highest death rate from the disease once detected.(7)
	Black women have the highest incidence of and mortality from colon and rectum cancer than any other ethnic or racial group.(8)
	Black women with ovarian carcinoma are at an increased risk of death compared with white women with the same disease.(9)
	While Hispanic women have almost 50% higher incidence rates of cervical cancer than black women, black women are 75% more likely to die from the disease.(8)

Diabetes:

	The prevalence of diabetes in African-American women is approximately 85 percent higher than Caucasian women.(10)
	15% of African American woman have diabetes, compared to 6.9% of white women.(11)
	Non-Hispanic black women aged 45-64 had more than twice the rate of undiagnosed diabetes as non-Hispanic white women the same age.(12)
	Non-Hispanic black women had the highest age-adjusted mortality rate (51.7 per 100,000) from diabetes in 1999.(13)
	Compared to non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks have more than twice the incidence of end-stage renal disease.(14)

Heart Disease:

	Heart disease is the leading cause of death for black women in the U.S.(6)
	Black women have the highest age-adjusted mortality rate from heart disease.(6)
	The higher mortality rates of heart disease in black women seem to be the result of a higher proportion of black women exhibiting the risk factors for increased mortality-cigarette smoking, hypertension, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, inadequate physical activity, and obesity.(15)

HIV/AIDS:

	Among women, 71% of the 4500 newly diagnosed cases of HIV African American.(16)
	The AIDS case rate for black women is 20 times higher than for non-Hispanic white women, and more than three times higher than any other minority group.(17)
	Four times as many black women as any other racial or ethnic group of women die from HIV disease.(6)

Mental Health:

	Almost two thirds of black, Hispanic, and Asian women who perceived a need to see a mental health professional did not see one in the past year compared to 35% of white women.(18)

Reproductive Health:

	Black women have a much higher pregnancy related death rate compared to white or Hispanic women.(18)

Sickle Cell Disease:

	Sickle Cell Disease, an inherited blood cell disorder, is more common among African Americans. It is estimated that the disease occurs in 1 in every 500 African -American births and that 1 out of 12 African-Americans carry the sickle cell trait.(19)

References:

1. Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card: National Women's Law Center; August 2000.

2. Prevalence and impact of arthritis by race and ethnicity--United States, 1989-1991. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1996;45(18):373-378.

3. The Many Shades of Lupus. U.S. Department of Health, National Insititutes of Health, National Insitutue of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disorderes. Available at: http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/lupus/shades/index.htm#5. Accessed August 22, 2002.

4. Trends in Deaths from Systemic Lupus Erythematosus --- United States, 1979--1998. MMWR. May3 2002;51(17):371-374.

5. Cancer Facts & Figures 2000. American Cancer Society. Available at: http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/F&F00.pdf. Accessed August 22, 2002.

6. Eberhardt MS, Ingram DD, Makuc DM. Urban and Rural Health Chartbook. Health, Unites States, 2001. Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics; 2001 2001.

7. Meadows M. More Research Needed on Breast Cancer in Black Women. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. Available at: http://www.omhrc.gov/ctg/ctg_cancer_issue.pdf. Accessed August 22, 2002.

8. Ries LAG, Eisner MP, Kosary CL, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-1999, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD,. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Insititute. Available at: http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1973_1999/. Accessed August 22, 2002.

9. Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Tainsky MA, Abrams J, et al. Ethnic differences in survival among women with ovarian carcinoma. Cancer. 2002;94(6):1886-1893.

10. Diabetes Surveillance System: Prevalence of Diabetes. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/prev/national/fig4data.htm. Accessed August 22, 2002.

11. Tull ES, Roseman JM. Diabetes in African Americans. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; 1995. NIH Publication No. 95-1468.

12. Beckles GLA, Thompson-Reid PE. Diabetes and women's health across the life stages: a public health perspective. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Diabetes Translation; 2001.

13. Hoyert DL, Arias E, Smith BL, Murphy SL, Kochanek KD. Deaths: Final Data for 1999. National Vital Statistics Report. September 21 2001;49(8):1-114.

14. Karter AJ, Ferrara A, Liu JY, Moffet HH, Ackerson LM, Selby JV. Ethnic disparities in diabetic complications in an insured population. Jama. 2002;287(19):2519-2527.

15. Winkleby MA, Kraemer HC, Ahn DK, Varady AN. Ethnic and socioeconomic differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors: findings for women from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994. Jama. 1998;280(4):356-362.

16. Karon JM, Fleming PL, Steketee RW, De Cock KM. HIV in the United States at the turn of the century: an epidemic in transition. Am J Public Health. 2001;91(7):1060-1068.

17. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Pervention; 2000. 12(No.2).

18. Stinson FS, Grant BF, Dufour MC. The critical dimension of ethnicity in liver cirrhosis mortality statistics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2001;25(8):1181-1187.

19. Facts About Sickle Cell. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; November 1996. NIH Publication no. 96-4057.