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.

Climate change is accelerating antibiotic resistance across the Western Pacific

Urgent action is needed as climate change fuels antibiotic resistance in the Western Pacific, threatening health and highlighting socioeconomic vulnerabilities.

6 Feb 2026

Financial incentives improve glycemic control in low-income diabetes patients

A new study examined whether providing financial vouchers to offset medication costs, conditional on improved blood sugar levels, could enhance glycemic control.

3 Feb 2026

Neighborhood disadvantage accelerates biological aging through emotional distress

While scientists have long known that living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with biological symptoms of accelerated aging, emotional distress accounts for a significant portion of these effects, researchers found in a recent study.

29 Jan 2026

NIH grant advances Indigenous-driven genomic research in Alaska and Oklahoma

A transdisciplinary team led by Southcentral Foundation, a Tribal healthcare organization in Anchorage, Alaska, has been awarded a competitive grant from the National Institutes of Health. Jessica Blanchard, Ph.D., senior research scientist at the University of Oklahoma's Center for Applied Social Research, is a key collaborator on the project, representing the continuation of a longstanding partnership between OU and Southcentral Foundation.

27 Jan 2026

Large multi-ancestry study expands understanding of schizophrenia genetics

A landmark study led by researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs has uncovered new genetic insights into schizophrenia by analyzing data from ancestrally diverse populations, including African Americans, through the Million Veteran Program (MVP) and Cooperative Studies Program (CSP).

24 Jan 2026

Nearly half of adults now live with heart disease as obesity and diabetes surge

The 2026 American Heart Association Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics report shows that nearly half of adults are living with cardiovascular disease, with cardiometabolic risk factors projected to rise substantially by 2050. Despite progress in smoking reduction and cholesterol control, worsening obesity, diabetes, hypertension, sleep health, and persistent inequities threaten future cardiovascular health.

22 Jan 2026

UVA researcher wins $700,000 for promising ovarian cancer research

Promising ovarian cancer research by Melanie Rutkowski, PhD, at the University of Virginia Comprehensive Cancer Center has won $700,000 in support from the Victoria's Secret Global Fund for Women's Cancers in partnership with Pelotonia and AACR, the American Association for Cancer Research.

8 Jan 2026

NYS Medical Cannabis Program reduces chronic pain patients' reliance on opioids

Adults with chronic pain who participated in New York State's (NYS) Medical Cannabis Program were significantly less likely to require prescription opioids, according to a new study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System.

8 Dec 2025

New Lancet series blends social science with medicine to tackle global health inequities

Can doctors in California learn from a patient who was bounced from one specialist to another in Japan? Can clinicians in London take lessons from a patient seeking asylum while suffering a medical emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border? Can doctors treating refugees in Africa inform health policy around the world?

5 Dec 2025

Medical humanities can illuminate the root causes of health disparities, study shows

A new study analyzing dozens of published papers over five decades focusing on health care disparities in Washington, DC, found that those that employed medical humanities approaches identified crucial barriers and opportunities for intervention that quantitative studies often miss.

2 Dec 2025

WHO releases first guideline on the use of GLP-1 therapies for treating obesity

To address the growing global health challenge of obesity, which affects more than 1 billion people, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released its first guideline on the use of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies for treating obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease.

2 Dec 2025

New report outlines recommendations to improve chronic disease care for Latinos

Latinos face significant health disparities, especially in chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and cancer.

24 Nov 2025

AI in neurological care could widen health inequities, new report warns

As artificial intelligence's role in healthcare rapidly expands, a comprehensive new report co-authored by UCLA Health states that the same technology that can help doctors detect strokes or seizures could also worsen health disparities unless proper safeguards are in place.

21 Nov 2025

US cancer registries, constrained by Trump policies, to recognize only ‘male’ or ‘female’ patients

The top authorities of U.S. cancer statistics will soon have to classify the sex of patients strictly as male, female, or unknown, a change scientists and advocates say will harm the health of transgender people, one of the nation's most marginalized populations.

21 Nov 2025

ADHD symptoms linked to earlier substance use in young sexual minority men

Young sexual minority men – a term used to describe gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men – with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are more likely to begin using substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, stimulants and illicit drugs at an earlier age, according to Rutgers Health researchers.

13 Nov 2025

Ultra-processed food consumption increases the risk for prediabetes in young adults

More than half of calories consumed in the United States come from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), items like fast food and packaged snacks that are often high in sodium, sugar and unhealthy fats.

10 Nov 2025

Tryptophan deficiency in breast milk may explain health challenges in children born to mothers with HIV

A new UCLA study reveals that breast milk from women living with HIV contains significantly lower levels of tryptophan, an essential amino acid likely important for infant immune function, growth, and brain development.

28 Oct 2025

New York Regional Diabetes Research Center established with $10.8 million NIH grant

Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $10.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create the New York Regional Diabetes Research Center (NYR-DRC), a newly expanded multi-institutional center co-led with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Weill Cornell Medicine.

23 Oct 2025

Could belonging be a biological shield? Researchers uncover aging clues

Researchers analyzing over 2,100 adults from the MIDUS cohort found that individuals with higher cumulative social advantage, spanning community ties, family relationships, and religious support, showed slower biological aging and lower systemic inflammation. The findings suggest that long-term social resources may become biologically embedded, influencing molecular pathways linked to longevity.

12 Oct 2025