JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In the United States (US), well-documented racial disparities in health outcomes are frequently attributed to racial bias and socioeconomic inequalities. However, it remains unknown whether racial disparities in mortality persist among those with higher socioeconomic status and occupational prestige.

Objective:

Because the celebrity population is generally characterized by high levels of socioeconomic status and occupational prestige, this study examined survival differences between black and white film celebrities.

Methods:

Using an online, open-source encyclopedia (i.e., Wikipedia), data for 5,829 entries of randomly selected American film actors and actresses born between years 1900 and 2000 were extracted. A Kaplan-Meier survival curve was conducted using 4,356 entries to compare the difference in survival by race. A Cox semiparametric regression analysis examined whether adjusting for year of birth, gender, and cause of death influenced differences in survival by race.

Results:

Most celebrities were non-Hispanic white (88.40%), male (81.92%), and born in the US (96.21%). Mean survival time for black celebrities (64.1 95%CI [60.6, 67.5] years) was 6.4 years shorter compared to white celebrities (70.5 95%CI 69.6 - 71.4 years) (P < .001). Black celebrities had a faster all-cause mortality rate using Kaplan-Meier survival function estimates and a log-rank test. However, in a Cox semiparametric regression there was no longer a significant difference between in survival times in black versus white celebrities (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.07; 95%CI [0.87, 1.31]).

Conclusions:

There is some evidence that racial disparities in all-cause mortality may persist at the higher levels of socioeconomic status, and this association was no longer significant in adjusted analyses. Further research is needed to examine if racial disparities in mortality are diminished at higher levels of socioeconomic status among more representative populations.