Black women in the US murdered six times more often than White women over last 20 years

Black women in the U.S were, on average, six times more likely to be murdered than their white peers for the years 1999 through 2020, according to an analysis of racial disparities in U.S. homicide rates released by Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health.

U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths More Than Quadrupled from 1999 to 2020

Regardless of race, age, geography or urbanization, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020, causing 1,013,852 deaths. The rates increased 4.4 times from 6.9 per 100,000 in 1999 to 30 per 100,000 in 2020.

Study First to Show Statewide Cannabis-related Deaths in Florida

There has been a 1,107.01 percent increase in the number of people with medical cannabis cards in Florida (2018 to Jan. 27). One key reason is because many people believe cannabinoids – plant derived, medicinal, and synthetic or chemically engineered – are safe to use. A study shows that 386 people died in Florida as a result of cannabis use; of these, 258 cases were caused by synthetic cannabis. Nearly 88 percent were men; 28 percent of deaths were in those ages 45 to 54, compared to 9 percent in those ages 8 to 24. Nearly 99 percent of individuals using cannabis and synthetic cannabis died from accidents.

Study Examines Data Transparency, Health Equity in U.S. COVID-19 Response

State governments varied widely in COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures and how they addressed immediate and long-standing health disparities and associated inequities.

Research Shows Alarming Increases in Deaths from Alcoholic Cirrhosis in the U.S.

Researchers conducted an original research study utilizing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) to compare trends in mortality from alcoholic cirrhosis in the U.S. in 1999 with those 20 years later in 2019.

April 2021 Issue of AJPH highlights COVID-19 as it relates to unemployment and excess deaths in Florida, Medicaid expansion, and misinformation spread by crowdfunding campaigns

April 2021 highlights from AJPH Issue includes COVID-19-related articles around deaths linked to unemployment, higher than reported death toll in Florida and crowdfunding campaigns spreading misinformation

Menacing Assaults on Science Causing Alarming and Avoidable Deaths in the U.S.

In early 2016, the U.S. was judged to have been best prepared for the existential threat of a pandemic, but turned out to be the least prepared for the actual threat. In a commentary, researchers say that “pandemic politics” is causing assaults on science, the FDA and CDC. They say that politicization of the FDA and CDC is creating continued losses of trust by the U.S. public and continued harm to their longstanding reputations of respect and admiration worldwide.

COVID-19: How South Korea Prevailed While the U.S. Failed

In a commentary, researchers demonstrate the stark differences in public health strategies from two democratic republics: South Korea and the United States, which have led to alarming differences in cases and deaths from COVID-19. After adjusting for the 6.5 fold differences in populations, the U.S. has suffered 47 times more cases and 79 times more deaths than South Korea.