(gentle music) - [Narrator] NPG Reports: Aging Matters.

(upbeat music) - We have come such a long way in science, and we know that race, skin color is primarily a social construct.

I can't see so many chronic diseases being disproportionately worse among African-Americans and come to the conclusion that it's in their DNA.

We have a lot of other historical data that tells us what is driving some of those differences and that's when we talk about the social determinants of health.

- [Narrator] There are six major social determinants of health according to the CDC, economic stability, food security, physical environment, like zip code and housing, education including misinformation and language barriers, community and social context like isolation and discrimination, and the healthcare system, or lack of access and inequities in care.

- Whatever way we get there, we know that the life expectancy is shorter.

- [Narrator] According to the National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy had been increasing until 2014 when it started decreasing in small bits.

And in 2020, the onset of COVID-19, things fell off a cliff.

Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped a whole year from 78.8 years to 77.8.

And whose life is shortest, Hispanic and Black people with declines of almost three years and two years respectively from 2019 to 2020.

- One study that looked at black men, older black men who experienced depression and reported more experiences with racism over time had inflammation in the brain that can be a setup for strokes.

There's another study looking at something similar in chronic kidney disease for women.

So women who were minorities and reported more experiences with racism also had worsening progression of their kidney disease.

So I think this is an area that we'll get more and more attention, really trying to understand what is the impact of these day to day living while minority stresses and burdens on individuals.

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