Tennessee’s report card for men’s health shows a large racial disparity. Credit: Vanderbilt University
A report card released today on men’s health showed that white men were more likely to die from accidents and suicide, black men were more prone to die from cancer, and Hispanic men struggled with chronic liver disease and cancer.
Kenneth Robinson is the health policy adviser for Shelby County and serves on the state advisory panel for men’s health. Overall, he says Tennessee men have shown improvement since 2010, but there are still huge racial gaps. Black men die from strokes, lung cancer, and HIV at far greater numbers.
“Disparities continue to be significant. The curves are not narrowing between black men and white men, and even black men and Hispanic men.”
Heart disease and cancer remain the two leading causes of death for men in Tennessee. But the report has no explanation for why the two are more prevalent in some areas of the state than others.
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