Black women faced wider health gap during height of pandemic

Black women in St. Louis County were at the highest risk for employment loss and food insecurity compared with Black men, white women, and white men, according to a study recently published in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

“This study is not only recognition of significant inequities, but may help us better defend those who are most harmed should similar scenarios occur in the future,” said Kia Davis, an assistant professor in the Washington University School of Medicine’s Division of Public Health Sciences, and senior author of the study 

School of Medicine and Brown School of Social Work researchers studied County statistics between August and October in 2020 and confirmed what other national studies have – there are gaping disparities that negatively affect the health of people who aren’t white, especially non-white women.

Black women suffered at disproportionately higher rates than men and people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds during the height of the pandemic.

Davis explained that many COVID-19 studies “focused on comparisons between different racial identities or between males and females.”

“Focusing on more than one social identity — in this study, race, and sex — is known as an intersectional analysis. Taking that approach provided researchers a more complete analysis of who has been most impacted by the pandemic.”

Davis said the research team sought to “dig deeper than just saying women experienced more job loss than men, or Blacks suffered more food insecurities than whites.”

“Disaggregating the data allows us to use the results to guide health care and social services programs, interventions and policy to mitigate the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 and related social harms on Black women.”

Employment loss and food insecurity are recognized as major social determinants of health. Employment loss can include job furloughs, layoffs, and reduced wages.

Food insecurity refers to the quality and quantity of food eaten, worrying about food, and receiving free meals or groceries.

There are documented links between employment loss, job insecurity, and adverse health outcomes. They can lead to increased risk of death and diseases because of substance abuse, suicide, depression and anxiety, substandard physical health, and chronic diseases.

“I wasn’t surprised that Black women faced higher harms, but I was surprised by the magnitude,” said the study’s first author, Jacquelyn Coats, a doctoral student at the Brown School.

“These results emphasize the need for increased community outreach programs and for bigger structural changes, such as labor laws offering better worker protection.”

Researchers found that Black women suffered more employment loss and food insecurity than Black men, white women, and white men, with the largest gaps occurring between Black women and white men.

Among the study’s participants who had been laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 16% were Black women compared with 7.1% of Black men, 8.6% of white women, and 6.1% of white men.

Regarding food insecurity, 79.6% of white men never worried their food would run out compared with 75.8% of white women, 72.6% of Black men and 57.6% of Black women.

“Historically, African-Americans and women are most harmed by social determinants of health due to systemic racism and sexism,” Davis said.

“Our study shows that COVID-19 has widened existing sex and racial disparities that can affect health.”

The researchers analyzed de-identified data of 2,146 adults ages 18 or older who resided in St. Louis County.

People were contacted via phone by county public health officials through a collaboration between St. Louis County and Washington University’s Institute for Public Health. Participants were asked a series of questions about their experiences with employment and food during the pandemic.

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