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New Study Finds Highest Amputation Rates in Cities Associated with Poverty, Living in Majority-Black Neighborhoods

Natanael Melchor
/
Unsplash

Limb amputations have long been higher for patients in rural America than in cities, largely because people there lack access to specialty care. But a new study from the University of Pennsylvania suggests that within U.S. cities the highest amputation rates are associated with poverty and living in a majority-Black neighborhood. WHYY’s Sojourner Ahebee has more.

(Original air-date: 10/1/21)

Sojourner Ahébée covers health equity for WHYY’s weekly health and science show, The Pulse, and the WHYY newsroom. Her reporting focuses on access to health care, outcomes, and societal factors that impact health in communities of color. Sojourner’s work is supported by a grant from the Commonwealth Fund. Her writing has been published in The Atlantic, The Academy of American Poets (Poem A Day), Ploughshares, and elsewhere. Sojourner is a recipient of a 2019 MacDowell Fellowship and a graduate of Stanford University.