ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2020
Racial Capitalism Within Public Health-How Occupational Settings Drive COVID-19 Disparities.
Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 140 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
140 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Racial and Ethnic Inequities in the Return-to-Work of Workers Experiencing Injury or Illness: A Systematic Review.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2023Pooled it
- Managing outbreaks of highly contagious diseases in prisons: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2020Pooled it
- Integrating social services with disease investigation: A randomized trial of COVID-19 high-touch contact tracing.PloS one · 2023Trial
- Utilizing theInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Discrimination, social support, and mental health in reproductive-aged women: the All of Us research program.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Temporal trends and disparities in heat-related cardiovascular mortality in the United States (1999-2024): a CDC WONDER analysis.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
- Racial and ethnic inequities to noise pollution from transportation- and work-related sources in the United States.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Disparities in SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Arab Americans Living in Southeast Michigan.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Observational
- Workplace Exposures Vary Across Neighborhoods in the US: Implications on Social Vulnerability and Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Racial and Ethnic Inequities to Cumulative Environmental and Occupational Impacts in Michigan.GeoHealth · 2025Article
- Perinatal Health and Healthcare Utilisation During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Nationwide Interrupted Time Series Analysis.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Invited commentary: policies that support working parents and gender health equity-needed research and methodological challenges.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Work or Wellness? Examining the Challenges of Low-Wage Workers with Type 2 Diabetes.Journal of health care for the poor and underserved · 2025Article
- Toward an Abolitionist Epidemiology of Displacement: Lessons From the United States on Border Detention of Migrants.International journal of public health · 2025Article
- Impact of increasing workforce racial diversity on black-white disparities in cardiovascular disease mortality.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 Risk Assessment Among Vulnerable Small Business Owners in El Paso County, Texas.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2024Article
- Reaching Structurally Vulnerable Populations Using Low-Barrier COVID-19 Testing Clinics Co-Created with Community-Based Organizations.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- Maternal Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: An Interrupted Time-series Analysis.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Racial capitalism and firearm violence: Developing a theoretical framework for firearm violence research examining structural racism.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
80 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Epidemiology of the US coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak focuses on individuals' biology and behaviors, despite centrality of occupational environments in the viral spread. This demonstrates collusion between epidemiology and racial capitalism because it obscures structural influences, absolving industries of responsibility for worker safety. In an empirical example, we analyzed economic implications of race-based metrics widely used in occupational epidemiology. In the United States, White adults have better average lung function and worse hearing than Black adults. Impaired lung function and impaired hearing are both criteria for workers' compensation claims, which are ultimately paid by industry. Compensation for respiratory injury is determined using a race-specific algorithm. For hearing, there is no race adjustment. Selective use of race-specific algorithms for workers' compensation reduces industries' liability for worker health, illustrating racial capitalism operating within public health. Widespread and unexamined belief in inherent physiological inferiority of Black Americans perpetuates systems that limit industry payouts for workplace injuries. We see a parallel in the epidemiology of COVID-19 disparities. We tell stories of industries implicated in the outbreak and review how they exemplify racial capitalism. We call on public health professionals to critically evaluate who is served and neglected by data analysis and to center structural determinants of health in etiological evaluation.
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