Historical redlining, current-day diabetes rates linked: NIH study

Study found a ‘significant’ relationship between redlining and diabetes
Redlining was denying home loans, other services, to some neighborhoods
The government-sanctioned practice was outlawed in 1968

Updated: Oct 6, 2024 / 06:01 PM CDT

Color coded illustrated map of New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States, 1930s. It is annotated to show mortgage lending risk based on neighborhood, including residential, commercial and industrial areas, 1930s. Residential districts are denoted as low, medium and high income areas. These types of maps were later known as redlining maps. They were published by the Home Owners Loan Corporation. (Photo by National Archives/Interim Archives/Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — The government-sanctioned discrimination known as redlining, which was outlawed more than 50 years ago, lives on today in the form of higher rates of diabetes in formerly redlined communities, according to new research backed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Redlining has significant direct and indirect relationships with diabetes prevalence,” the study authors wrote. “Redlining is directly and indirectly associated with a higher diabetes prevalence via social factors such as incarceration, poverty, discrimination, housing, and unemployment,” the authors added.

Redlining was the practice of color-coding neighborhoods based on the perceived risk to mortgage lenders. People living in areas considered high-risk (that were literally marked in red ink on maps) were denied home loans and other financial services.

Redlining began in 1934 and was encouraged by several government agencies, including the Federal Housing Administration. The practice was outlawed by the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, which is part of the NIH, conducted this recent study, which did not quantify redlining’s contribution to diabetes rates. Other research has mentioned redlining as being one of several paths to higher diabetes rates among minority populations.

An earlier study by Case Western University established a link between redlining and cardiovascular disease among U.S. veterans.

Diabetes is the eight leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the National Diabetes Association. It affects 11.6% of the general population. But that it afflicts 15% of Native Americans, 12% of African Americans, 12% of Hispanics. Diabetes hits 6.9% of white adults.