Do racial inequities in infant mortality correspond to variations in societal conditions? A study of state-level income inequality in the US, 1992-2007

Authors：Siddiqi Arjumand^*; Jones Marcella K; Bruce Donald J; Erwin Paul C

Source：SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE, 2016, 164: 49-58.

DOI：10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.013

• Income inequality
• Infant mortality
• Race
• Racial disparities
• Racial inequalities
• State

Background: Prior studies have examined the association between income inequality and overall infant mortality rates (IMR). We examine effects of income inequality on racial inequities in IMR over the period 1992-2007 in the U.S.
Methods: Race-specific state IMR data were obtained from 1992 to 2007, from which absolute and relative IMR inequities were calculated. Fixed and random effects models, adjusted for state-level median income, percent poverty, percent high school graduates, and unemployment rate, were used to determine contemporaneous and lagged state-level associations between income inequality and racial IMR inequities.
Results: Racial IMR inequities varied significantly across the U.S. Contemporaneous income inequality was negatively associated with white IMR only. Two-year lagged income inequality was negatively associated with black IMR and had the most pronounced effect on racial inequities in IMR.
Discussion: Future studies should consider lagged effects of income inequality on IMR and other health outcomes, and should examine other potential societal conditions that may account for state-level variations in racial IMR inequities.

• Institution
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