Alternative medicine utilization by African Americans and improving life expectancy: is there a correlation?

The life expectancy of African Americans and Caucasians has been increasing in the United States and in many other countries around the world since the late 1800s. However, as long as statistics have been accrued on race and ethnicity, the life expectancy of African Americans and Blacks in general has been significantly lower than that of Caucasians. Basic public health and medical preventive education is needed because higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) rates is one of the primary reasons for the differences between life expectancy between African Americans and Caucasians. It is also of an apparent separate but perhaps related interest that several recent preliminary studies suggest that African Americans, more than any other race, may have some of the lowest uses of alternative medicine due to skepticism, as well as educational efforts and trust in their health care professional. Despite a common belief that African Americans harbor profound distrust of specific areas of the medical profession, it is of interest that this finding has not held validity in the area of alternative medicine. Therefore, since lifestyle changes are considered alternatives in most of these studies, this would suggest that a greater educational emphasis on behavioral modification could establish a foundation or a model of preventive medical education that can be utilized for underserved populations around the world.