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.

Stakeholders address questions related to HIT impact on healthcare disparities at invitational roundtable

A diverse group of healthcare stakeholders address questions related to health information technology's impact on health and healthcare disparities in a two-day invitational roundtable on March 7-8, sponsored by the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and AMIA, the association for informatics professionals.

8 Mar 2011

GW Health Policy Researchers play a major role in AJPM supplement

GW Health Policy Researchers, led by Wilhelmine Miller, Ph.D., associate research professor in the School of Public Health and Health Services, Department of Health Policy, played a major role in the supplement of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

5 Mar 2011

Few primary care physicians pay adequate attention to patients taking prescription opioid drugs

Few primary care physicians pay adequate attention to patients taking prescription opioid drugs — despite the potential for abuse, addiction and overdose, according to a new study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

4 Mar 2011

HIV women take photos to document their lives

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but for women living with human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS, a picture can help them deal with the challenges of living with the virus.

1 Mar 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb awards $1 million grant to reduce hepatitis-related health disparities in Asia

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has awarded four new grants to help improve awareness, prevention and care of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in China and India.

25 Feb 2011

Study: Low Vitamin D levels can cause allergies in children

A study of more than 3,000 children shows that low vitamin D levels are associated with increased likelihood that children will develop allergies, according to a paper published in the February 17 online edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

25 Feb 2011

Nanoparticle therapy may improve survival after life-threatening blood loss

In an advance that could improve battlefield and trauma care, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have used tiny particles called nanoparticles to improve survival after life-threatening blood loss.

23 Feb 2011

Healthcare disparities seen in epilepsy patients with low socioeconomic status

A newly published report reveals patients with epilepsy and low socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to have uncontrolled seizures, drug-related side effects, and a lower overall quality of life. The study also indicates that low SES patients used the hospital emergency room more often and had more visits to a general practitioner than epileptic patients at higher socioeconomic levels. Full findings are now available in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy.

22 Feb 2011

Experimental vaccine appears to protect against pneumonia

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed an experimental vaccine that appears to protect against an increasingly common and particularly deadly form of pneumococcal pneumonia. Details of the new vaccine, which was tested in an animal model, are reported in a paper published today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

22 Feb 2011

Kresge Foundation awards $750,000 grant for East Cleveland Teen Collaborative

Cleveland Clinic, the City of East Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and a collection of local health and social service agencies are launching the East Cleveland Teen Collaborative, a partnership focused on reducing health disparities and improving health outcomes of East Cleveland youth.

19 Feb 2011

New study finds racial disparities among elderly Americans in hospital readmissions

Elderly black patients were more likely to be readmitted to the hospital after a prior hospital stay for a heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health researchers.

16 Feb 2011

Advocates help improve care and outcomes for American Indian patients

Statistics show wide health disparities between American Indians and the rest of the population. For instance, American Indians are six times more likely to die from tuberculosis and twice as likely to die from diabetes than other Americans.

10 Feb 2011

NCI awards grant to reduce cancer-related health disparities among Latinos

A $4 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute will create a Texas regional Community Networks Program Center, called Latinos Contra El Cancer, to reduce cancer-related health disparities among Texas Latinos.

8 Feb 2011

National Minority Quality Forum launches novel resource to map lung cancer prevalence estimates

In recognition of World Cancer Day, the National Minority Quality Forum today launched the Lung Cancer Atlas. This novel resource enables users to map lung cancer prevalence estimates and total counts at the zip-code level for the United States as well as for individual states, federal and state legislative districts.

5 Feb 2011

New 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans addresses unhealthy public

With a majority of the country's adults either overweight or obese, the new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are the first to address an unhealthy public, making their recommendations especially urgent for consumers and health professionals alike, according to the American Dietetic Association.

2 Feb 2011