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.

New Northwestern Medicine study shows that patient portals could widen gap in health disparities

Online sites that offer secure access to one's medical record, often referred to as patient portals, are increasingly important for doctor and patient communication and routine access to health care information. But patient portals could widen the gap in health disparities among the most vulnerable patients, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.

29 Apr 2015

Preventive intervention improves knowledge, attitudes about sexual risk among adolescent boys than girls

Boys aged between 12-14 years old showed improved knowledge and attitudes about sexual risk after a preventive intervention, compared to girls of the same age, according to a study presented yesterday at the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting.

28 Apr 2015

Proviso Partners for Health awarded IHI grant to improve community health

The Proviso Partners for Health was awarded a grant from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement to support their efforts to improve community health. Proviso Partners for Health is comprised of Loyola University Health System, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing as well as Proviso-Leyden Council for Community Action, Proviso East High School, Triton College, Cook County Department of Public Health and several other community organizations.

25 Apr 2015

Montefiore and Einstein researchers to present new findings on neurological disorders at AAN 2015

Researchers from Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine will present new findings on how to effectively treat migraine, and forecast the onset of pain in a number of neurological conditions including dementia in older adults.

21 Apr 2015

Research: LGBT individuals more likely than heterosexuals to avoid medical care

Research has shown that, for a number of reasons, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are significantly more likely than heterosexuals to avoid or delay medical care.

21 Apr 2015

UAB research findings may lead to better treatment for women with HER2+ breast cancer

There are five subtypes of breast cancer, and they are distinct diseases with vastly different biologies that drastically alter their progression and responses to treatment. Understanding those differences is the starting point to a more effective, personalized treatment of breast cancer, which strikes more than 230,000 women in the U.S. each year.

16 Apr 2015

Racial and ethnic minority groups face disproportionate rates of smoking, health-related illnesses

April is National Minority Health Month, and one of the most significant health issues minorities face is disproportionate rates of smoking and health-related illnesses.

16 Apr 2015

Study investigates health outcomes of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in MA plans at member-level

Inovalon, a leading technology company providing advanced cloud-based analytics and data-driven intervention platforms to the healthcare industry and the Special Needs Plan (SNP) Alliance, released today the largest analysis ever performed on dual eligible quality outcomes, entitled "An Investigation of Medicare Advantage Dual Eligible Member-Level Performance on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Five-Star Quality Measures."

31 Mar 2015

Study: Mexican Americans spend high proportion of their later years with disability

Life expectancy for Hispanics in the U.S. currently outpaces other ethnic groups, yet a new study finds that Mexican Americans -- especially women who were born in Mexico -- are spending a high proportion of their later years with some form of disability, a fact that suggests a growing need for community assistance and long-term care in the future.

30 Mar 2015

Experimental nanoparticle therapy speeds healing of all sorts of wounds

An experimental therapy developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University cut in half the time it takes to heal wounds compared to no treatment at all. Details of the therapy, which was successfully tested in mice, were published online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

30 Mar 2015

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