US Black Women’s Health Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Socioeconomic and Temporal Patterns.

• In Event: 41017 - COVID-19 and Inequalities in Health and Wellbeing

Abstract

Objective: To examine how socioeconomic status (SES) shaped intra-racial health disparities among Black women before (2018–2019), during (2020–2021), and after (2022–2023) the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data (2018–2023; n=95,443 Black women), we analyzed temporal trends in self-rated health (SRH), poor physical/mental health days, and SES (education, income, employment).

Results: Educational disparities in SRH narrowed temporarily during the pandemic: the gap between Black women with less than high school education and college graduates decreased from 36 to 32.2 percentage points (p<0.001) but rebounded post-pandemic (32.8%). Income-based disparities remained entrenched: Black women below the Federal Poverty Level reported 14.7 poor physical health days/month pre-pandemic versus 8.0 days for high-income peers, a gap persisting across all periods. Mental health days exceeded physical health days for all groups, worsening most for low-income individuals during the pandemic (15.6 vs. 10.0 days, p<0.01). Employment status strongly predicted outcomes—those unable to work reported 6.9 more poor physical health days than employed peers (p<0.001).

Conclusions: While the pandemic temporarily compressed educational disparities, income and employment-based inequities persisted or widened, underscoring SES as both a partial buffer and site of structural constraint.

Policy Implications: Sustaining pandemic-era protections (expanded healthcare, income supports) and prioritizing mental health equity are critical to addressing systemic inequities exacerbated by crises.

Authors

• Beza Taddess, Princeton University

• Jolene Tan, Princeton University

• Sanyu A. Mojola, Princeton University