Work by Javier Rodriguez, Arline Geronimus, John Bound, and Danny Dorling found that excess mortality among U.S. blacks may be both a cause and an effect of political processes. That is, premature deaths among voting-age blacks due to poor health may have cost Democrats key races and diminished the chance that elected officials have mandates to eliminate health inequality. “It’s sobering,” says Geronimus. “There has been persistent health inequality between blacks and whites in the U.S. that remain entrenched and a challenge to our democracy.”

More about Rodriguez, Geronimus, Bound and Dorling find excess mortality among blacks influences key elections >