Muscular Dystrophy Stricken Blacks Die Young

A look into the racial disparity in health care reveals that blacks with muscular dystrophy (MD) die 10-12 years earlier compared to whites. This finding was contained in a research paper published in the recent issue of the medical journal Neurology.

The black-white disparity, which was based on 20 years of data, was among the widest ever observed. The mortality gap is made more notable by the increasing survival rates for whites while that for blacks remain almost stationary.

Race constraints is seen as the most probable explanation for the lack of access to healthcare. Young blacks are 1.5 more likely to go without medical insurance than whites, and these African-Americans often rely on Medicaid for healthcare needs. Unfortunately, while Medicaid delivers on primary care services, it lags behind private insurance coverage in terms of standard-of-care treatments which are necessary in managing health problems like muscular dystrophy.