Health toll of dehumanization links racism to worse health outcomes

The article connects dehumanizing public imagery and arguments against group-focused research with measurable health harms, citing the medical concept of “weathering” and disparities such as higher rates of diabetes and maternal deaths among Black women.

The article describes a series of events and research concerns that the author says connect dehumanizing imagery and erasure to health harms. It notes a recent instance in which the President posted a racist image depicting former President Obama and the former First Lady as apes and later deleted it. The author discusses how repeated exposure to dehumanizing portrayals contributes to chronic stress and poor health. The piece also raises concern about recent testimony questioning race-focused health research. Key points: - A presidential social post depicting former President and First Lady Obama as apes was posted during Black History Month and removed about twelve hours later, an event the author says reverberated beyond social media. - The medical concept of “weathering” is described as the physical toll of chronic stress from bias and discrimination, with the article linking it to earlier onset and worse outcomes for conditions such as fibroids, diabetes, heart disease, and riskier pregnancies among Black women. - The article cites research and statistics reported previously, including a 2017 JAMA finding on diabetes risk differences and reported disparities in maternal mortality and infant death rates for Black women and babies compared with white counterparts. - The author reports that NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya testified that studying structural racism in health is "ideological" and argued for studying populations equally rather than focusing on specific racial or ethnic groups. Summary: The author argues that dehumanizing public imagery, persistent stereotypes in medicine, and moves to erase identity-focused research together sustain health inequities and hinder detection of disparities. Undetermined at this time.