2633 research outputs found
Sort by
RACE/ETHNICITY AND U.S. ADULT MORTALITY: Progress, Prospects, and New Analyses
No full textAlthough there have been significant decreases in U.S. mortality rates, racial/ethnic disparities persist. The goals of this study are to: (1) elucidate a conceptual framework for the study of racial/ethnic differences in U.S. adult mortality, (2) estimate current racial/ethnic differences in adult mortality, (3) examine empirically the extent to which measures of socioeconomic status and other risk factors impact the mortality differences across groups, and (4) utilize findings to inform the policy community with regard to eliminating racial/ethnic disparities in mortality. Relative Black-White differences are modestly narrower when compared to a decade or so ago, but remain very wide. The majority of the Black-White adult mortality gap can be accounted for by measures of socioeconomic resources that reflect the historical and continuing significance of racial socioeconomic stratification. Further, when controlling for socioeconomic resources, MexicanAmericans and Mexican immigrants exhibit significantly lower mortality risk than non-Hispanic Whites. Without aggressive efforts to create equality in socioeconomic and social resources, Black-White disparities in mortality will remain wide, and mortality among the Mexican-origin population will remain higher than what would be the case if that population achieved socioeconomic equality with Whites
Addressing Health Disparities: A Conversation With Thomas LaVeist, PhD, Director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
No full textThe Innovations Team: The U.S. will soon be a country with a “Majority-Minority” population. What demographic shifts are driving this change?
Thomas LaVeist: There is a combination of things behind the demographic shift. There is a rapidly declining white birth rate and higher minority birth rates. In general, minorities have first births at a younger age than whites, meaning they utilize a longer portion of their reproductive years. And, of course, there is immigration—mainly from Latin America and Asia. Looking at the demographic pyramid of the United States, a larger percentage of whites are in their nonreproductive years
HIV infections in U.S. stable but disparities exist
No full textThe number of Americans newly infected with HIV remained stable between 2006 and 2009, but infections rose nearly 50 percent among young black gay and bisexual men, U.S. experts said on Wednesday.
New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal progress since the peak of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s. But the sharp increases in infection rates among young black men who have sex with men show there is much more work to do, they said.
"We're very concerned about these increases among young gay men," Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, said in a telephone interview.
"We can't allow the health to a new generation to be lost to what is essentially a completely preventable disease.
ASCO Examines Impact of Health Care Reform on Cancer Care Disparities; Makes Recommendations for Closing Gaps
No full textTo help address serious racial and economic disparities in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in the United States, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) today released a policy statement that outlines specific provisions of 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that have the potential to reduce these disparities. ASCO’s statement makes recommendations to ensure that such provisions are carried out effectively, and urges additional steps to address systemic issues including insurance reform, quality of care, prevention, research, and diversity in the health care workforce
Searching for the right recipe: Can fresh fruits and vegetables really remedy obesity in the poor?
No full textWhen Michelle Obama and Mike Huckabee sat down for a gracious talk last February on Huckabee’s Fox News show, the unlikely couple chatted about the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a proposed federal program to bring more fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income neighborhoods. Obama had just unveiled the program in Philadelphia, and visited The Fresh Grocer, a new supermarket in North Philly. The initiative is meant to combat obesity, a problem close to the heart of Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate who lost more than 100 pounds after he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2003
City gets new prescription for better health: Mayor's Healthy Chicago wellness plan outlines areas needing improvement, strategies to achieve it by 2020
No full textVowing to improve the health of Chicagoans and cut the government's soaring health care costs, Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to a sweaty fitness room in Humboldt Park on Tuesday to unveil a comprehensive health agenda that includes a citywide "wellness plan."
As part of Emanuel's effort to launch initiatives in his first 100 days, the mayor and Health Commissioner Bechara Choucair presented a Healthy Chicago plan that outlines 12 priority areas — and dozens of measurable health goals the leaders hope to achieve by 2020.
The priorities include reduced tobacco use, obesity reduction and prevention, HIV prevention, adolescent health, cancer disparity reduction, better access to health care..
Practical Strategies to Circumvent and/or Surmount Six Barriers in Health Disparities Research: Observations from a Pilot Project Among Vietnamese Americans
No full textThis paper describes six practical strategies to circumvent and/or surmount barriers encountered in community-based health disparities research, as illustrated within a pilot study on Vietnamese Americans’ perceptions of the US healthcare system. Health issues, including higher rates of cancer in this group, prompted the current study. These six strategies include the following: (1) identify a population with health concerns, (2) establish the role of the community partner early, (3) recruit an investigator who understands not only the language and culture but also the research process, (4) accept the exploratory nature of a study in an understudied group, (5) put in place the groundwork for recontacting community members, and 6) assemble a motivated research team. The descriptive experience reported here might enable other investigators to undertake and complete work in the field of health disparities in minority groups
GOVERNOR O’MALLEY AND LT. GOVERNOR BROWN ANNOUNCE MARYLAND INFANT MORTALITY RATE DROPS FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
Get PDFGovernor Martin O‟Malley today joined by Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and other state and local officials, announced that Maryland‟s infant mortality rate has dropped substantially for a second consecutive year to the lowest rate recorded for the State. Reducing infant mortality is one of the O‟Malley-Brown Administration‟s 15 strategic goals to improve the quality of life in Maryland.
Maryland‟s infant mortality rate has been above the national average for many years. In 2009, the infant mortality rate fell to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 births, a 10 percent reduction in the overall infant mortality rate
Heterogeneity of Diabetes Outcomes Among Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.: The Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE)
No full textAbstract available at publisher's web site