The objective of this article is to describe the racial and ethnic differences in health status during the "middle years" of life. We use data from National Vital Statistics Reports (Hoyert, Kochanek, and Murphy, 1999) to estimate excess mortality among racial and ethnic minority groups for the leading causes of death among adults. Also discussed are the current state of scholarship in minority health and suggestions for future directions for research on racial and ethnic differences in health status.