Health Disparities News and Research

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Health disparities (also called healthcare inequality in some countries) refer to gaps in the quality of health and health care across racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and socioeconomic groups.

Moffitt study highlights that LGBTQI populations face health care disparities

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, queer/questioning and intersex (LGBTQI) population has been largely understudied by the medical community. Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center found that the LGBTQI community experience health disparities due to reduced access to health care and health insurance, coupled with being at an elevated risk for multiple types of cancer when compared to non-LGBTQI populations.

27 Mar 2015

APM, HIV/AIDS Resource Center merge to strengthen response to HIV in Southeast Michigan

In order to strengthen the response to HIV in Southeast Michigan, AIDS Partnership Michigan and HIV/AIDS Resource Center have merged their organizations. Building on a history of collaboration and excellence, the merger of APM and HARC will ensure the sustainability of comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and care in their now 10-county area where 63% of people living with HIV reside.

25 Mar 2015

Latinos continue to face problems in accessing high-quality health care

Latinos are the largest ethnic minority group in the United States, and it's expected that by 2050 they will comprise almost 30 percent of the U.S. population. Yet they are also the most underserved by health care and health insurance providers.

20 Mar 2015

Study: mHealth app helps improve breast cancer risk assessment in diverse, low-income women

Interviewing women at a breast-imaging center in an urban safety net institution before and after they used a "mHealth" mobile health app on a tablet, Elissa Ozanne, PhD from Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center and colleagues concluded that older, diverse, and low income women found it easy to use and acceptable.

19 Mar 2015

Therapists twice as likely to misdiagnose mental illness in patients from socially disadvantaged groups

The shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, MO, has ignited a global discussion about implicit racial bias. One group of people you might think would be immune from this hidden bias is clinical therapists, people trained to understand the human mind. But a new field study finds that the social identities of patients and their therapists affect the accuracy of the diagnosis: Therapists were twice as likely to misdiagnose mental illness when their patients were members of a disadvantaged, compared to an advantaged, group.

17 Mar 2015

Physical activity may protect older people from effects of brain damage

Older people who are physically active may be protecting themselves from the effects of small areas of brain damage that can affect their movement abilities, according to a new study published in the March 11, 2015, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

12 Mar 2015

New type of vaccine holds promise for prevention of genital herpes

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have designed a new type of vaccine that could be the first-ever for preventing genital herpes--one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, affecting some 500 million people worldwide.

9 Mar 2015

DePaul University experts available to discuss different health care topics

With the fifth anniversary of the presidential signing of the U.S. Affordable Care Act March 23, faculty experts from DePaul University are available to discuss a range of health care topics including the analysis of health care data, community health, patient experience, communication among health care professionals, interprofessional health care education and the role of nurses and physician assistants.

6 Mar 2015

Strengthening Native American families can help improve children’s health

Strengthening Native American families will help improve their children's health—that's the premise behind a research study targeting 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds and their caregivers on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

4 Mar 2015

Study finds racial disparities among children with Crohn's disease

A study published recently in the IBD Journal found significant differences in hospital readmissions, medication usage, and both medical and surgical complications of children with Crohn's disease related to race. In the study, black children had a 1.5 times higher frequency of hospital readmissions because of Crohn's disease compared to white children.

28 Feb 2015

Trained navigators can help patients overcome inequities in healthcare system

Traversing the healthcare system can be daunting for almost anyone. Add in the many obstacles that low-income uninsured populations face, and it becomes tremendously more difficult. But a new Northwestern Medicine study shows that guidance from trained navigators can help patients overcome healthcare inequities.

26 Feb 2015

UTHealth study explores use of app to help improve health of minority stroke patients

A clinical trial investigating the use of a physician-monitored app to help first-time minority stroke patients become healthier has begun at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

25 Feb 2015

Einstein researchers find possible clue to why older mothers have babies born with Down syndrome

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found a possible clue to why older mothers face a higher risk for having babies born with conditions such as Down syndrome that are characterized by abnormal chromosome numbers.

19 Feb 2015

Loyola researchers receive grant to improve health of low-income minorities

Loyola University Chicago health sciences researchers have received a $500,000 grant from the George M. Eisenberg Foundation for Charities, based in Arlington Heights, Ill., for a 10-year study to improve the health of low-income minority residents in communities surrounding Loyola's Health Sciences Campus in Maywood.

19 Feb 2015

Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare awards grants to support MIHS programs

The Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare announced today that it awarded $50,000 in community impact grants to help four programs that support the underserved, including a unique hospital-based domestic violence prevention effort.

13 Feb 2015

Researchers develop novel approach to identify potential antimalarial drugs

Each year nearly 600,000 people--mostly children under age five and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa--die from malaria, caused by single-celled parasites that grow inside red blood cells. The most deadly malarial species--Plasmodium falciparum--has proven notoriously resistant to treatment efforts.

12 Feb 2015

Diversity Jobs Report: Healthcare sector offers positive news for diverse professionals seeking employment in US

Today Professional Diversity Network , Inc. releases its monthly Diversity Jobs Report (DJR), which analyzes the employment situation for women, minorities, veterans, LGBT and disabled professionals.

9 Feb 2015

Howard K. Koh receives CADCA's 2015 National Leadership Award

In recognition of his significant contributions to public health and tobacco prevention, and his long-standing support of community-based drug prevention, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) will present Howard K. Koh M.D., M.P.H. with its 2015 National Leadership Award.

5 Feb 2015

Two genetic mutations can interact to reduce risk for heart attack

Researchers have determined that two mutations on a single gene can interact in a way that lowers the carrier's risk for a heart attack.

4 Feb 2015

IOMC receives initial funding to help eliminate health disparities in Chicago's underserved communities

The Institute of Medicine of Chicago (IOMC) has announced the receipt of initial funding to pursue its new initiative designed to help eliminate health disparities in Chicago's underserved communities.

29 Jan 2015