Urban Sprawl, Racial Segregation and Black Infant Mortality

Studies from the 1990s suggested that Black-White racial residential segregation was associated with increased risk of Black infant mortality. While other studies have found an associated between urban sprawl and the overall health of the population, little work has been done on the effects of sprawl on African Americans.

Year 2000 infant mortality data were downloaded from the CDC. Other data were downloaded or derived from the US Census. Metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 Black persons in 2000 were included in the study. The dependent variable was the African American infant mortality rate (actual range 5.95 - 19.6). Independent variables included percent Blacks in poverty, percent total population that was Black, urban sprawl (UAR Sprawl Index, potential range 0 - 100), Black-White segregation (Dissimilarity Index, potential range 0 - 100). The models were weighted by the total number of Blacks in a metropolitan area.

In the final regression model, both urban sprawl (.07075, 95% CI = .0707, .0708) and segregation (.0581, 95% CI = .0580, .0583), were associated with a higher Black infant mortality rate. In a model with a sprawl-segregation interaction term, the interaction term was also associated with a higher Black infant mortality rate (.00223, 95% CI = .0022, .00224).

Sprawl and segregation were independently associated with increased Black infant mortality. This may suggest that inner city populations should be concerned about urban sprawl and that the overall nature of the built and social environments continue to have a negative impact on the health of US African American populations.