Health Disparities News and Research

RSS

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.

AACE's five-tiered approach to elimination of endocrine healthcare disparities

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) today is announcing the adoption of a new policy reaffirming the Association's commitment to the elimination of endocrine healthcare disparities in the United States.

3 Aug 2011

Lifestyle factors of people with exceptional longevity

People who live to 95 or older are no more virtuous than the rest of us in terms of their diet, exercise routine or smoking and drinking habits, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

3 Aug 2011

RSS honors UNC researcher with 2011 Distinguished Service to Rural Life Award

Joanne M. Jordan, MD, MPH, director of the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has received the 2011 Distinguished Service to Rural Life Award from the Rural Sociological Society.

2 Aug 2011

Disparities persist despite insurance

A pair of studies highlights how health disparities continue to take shape and unravels some of the factors that are involved in differences in health outcomes.

1 Aug 2011

Journalism fellows to gather in Los Angeles to explore community health issues

USC Annenberg announced journalism awards totaling $53,500 to support investigative and explanatory reporting projects on topics ranging from health in America's underserved communities to the challenges for health reform and quality medical care.

30 Jul 2011

Case studies examine principles of health care delivery in resource-poor settings

Today, the Global Health Delivery Project and Harvard Business Publishing released 21 teaching case studies examining the principles of health care delivery in resource-poor settings.

29 Jul 2011

Book examines impact of new racial science

In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug called BiDil as a therapy for heart failure specifically for African-American patients, claiming in a press release that this was a step toward personalized medicine.

29 Jul 2011

$3 million grant to aid minorities with uncontrolled diabetes

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Health Research and Policy and College of Medicine have received a $3 million federal grant to improve diabetes management in minority patients.

28 Jul 2011

World's best genetic map now built in African-Americans

A group of researchers from the University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School and the University of Mississippi Medical Center has constructed the world's most detailed genetic map, a tool scientists can use to better understand the roots of disease and how DNA is passed generationally to create diversity in the human species.

21 Jul 2011

Exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles risk of hearing loss among adolescents

NYU School of Medicine researchers report in a new study that exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles the risk of hearing loss among adolescents. The study is published in the July, 2011, issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.

19 Jul 2011

Corporates profit from pinkwashing

Companies that try to increase sales of their products by adopting the color pink and pink ribbons to imply that they support breast cancer research-a practice called pinkwashing-but at the same time permit the use of chemicals shown to cause cancer are committing a form of social injustice against women, according to a thought-provoking article in Environmental Justice.

8 Jul 2011

Researchers to evaluate long-term health effects of oil spills

An NIH-funded network of researchers will evaluate potential harmful effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on reproduction and birth outcomes, the cardiorespiratory system, and behavior and mental health.

8 Jul 2011

Treating migraines with behavioral approaches can make financial sense

Treating chronic migraines with behavioral approaches - such as relaxation training, hypnosis and biofeedback - can make financial sense compared to prescription-drug treatment, especially after a year or more, a new study found.

6 Jul 2011

Study finds two reasons behind racial disparities in stroke treatment care

African-Americans are less likely than whites to receive critical stroke treatment primarily because they do not get to a hospital soon enough for time-sensitive treatment and because of preexisting medical conditions. For patients who are eligible for treatment, no racial disparity was found.

2 Jul 2011

Infected astrocytes can cause neuroAIDS

A longstanding medical mystery - why so many people with HIV experience memory loss and other cognitive problems despite potent antiretroviral therapy - may have been solved by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

2 Jul 2011

Significant gap exists in emergency care services for stroke patients

citywide study published online in today's issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association demonstrates racial disparities in the use of clot-busting drugs to treat acute ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke.

2 Jul 2011

Black church members report better quality of life than general population

Health disparities between black Americans and the rest of the nation have been well-documented in medical journals. But one study shows that blacks who identify as members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church actually report a better quality of life than the average American.

28 Jun 2011

State highlights: Calif. insurance regulatory system criticized

The two-headed beast that regulates health insurance in California is under fire. For the first time in a decade, healthcare leaders in Sacramento are publicly asking whether it's time to junk overlapping bureaucracies that police health insurers and HMOs (Helfand, 6/23).

24 Jun 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation awards grants to empower African American women with type 2 diabetes

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation today awarded five grants totaling $1.5 million to organizations that will empower African American women with type 2 diabetes to better manage their disease while also leveraging their standing as leaders in their families and communities to influence the health of those around them.

24 Jun 2011

CHW interventions linked to increased rates of mammography screening

Education, referrals, support and other interventions by community health workers improve rates of screening mammography in the United States - especially in medical and urban settings and among women whose race and ethnicity is similar to that of the community health workers serving them.

24 Jun 2011