Demographic changes can have broad effects on the health of ethnic groups. Cities in the United States have undergone major social transitions during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Notable factors in these shifts have been sustained rates of black poverty and intensified racial segregation, often as a result of redlining. Indications of the effect of these social forces on black-white differentials in health status have begun to surface in the research literature.
