[EQ] Disparities In Health: Expanding The Focus

Health Affairs: March/April 2008 - Volume 27, Number 2

Disparities in Health: Expanding The Focus

From the Editor

 

James C. Robinson [Extract]   Black, Latino Children More Than 12 Times As Likely As White Children To Both Be Poor And Live In Poor Neighborhoods, Say Researchers In Health Affairs Almost 17 percent of black children and 20.5 percent of Latino children in the United States live in ³double jeopardy,² meaning that they live in both poor families and poor neighborhoods, according to research released today in the March/April issue of the journal Health Affairs. In contrast, only 1.4 percent of white children live in double jeopardy. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/2/321 In addition, poor white children are more likely than poor black or Latino children to live in better neighborhoods. A typical poor white child lives in a neighborhood where the poverty rate is 13.6 percent, while a typical poor black child lives in a neighborhood where the poverty level is nearly 30 percent. A typical poor Latino child lives in a neighborhood where the poverty rate is 26 percent. According to researchers Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, an associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues, the type of neighborhood one lives in plays a significant role in racial and ethnic health disparities. The study is part of a thematic Health Affairs issue on disparities in health that examines the link between racial and ethnic disparities and health status and health care. http://content.healthaffairs.org/current.shtml Other issue highlights include: Education Affects Life Expectancy. Despite increased attention during the 1980s and 1990s to reducing disparities in life expectancy among the educationally disadvantaged, the educational gap in life expectancy is rising. Between the 1980s and 2000, life expectancy increases occurred nearly exclusively among highly educated groups, according to research from Ellen Meara, an assistant professor of health economics at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/2/350 Policymakers Must View Oral Health As Essential. Oral health is not given the same priority as general health in health care policy, despite research that shows links between oral health and overall health, say researchers Susan Fisher-Owens, an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues. The researchers review disparities in oral health and call for more diversity within the dental workforce, incentives for providers to work in areas where there is a shortage of dentists, programs that address inequalities in dental services, and better public insurance coverage for dental care. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/2/404   From: Ford, Kathleen

Social Determinants

 

PROLOGUE: The Social Determinants Of Health [Extract]

 

Toward A Policy-Relevant Analysis Of Geographic And Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Child Health   Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Theresa L. Osypuk, Nancy McArdle, and David R. Williams [Abstract]

 

Targeting Health Disparities: A Model Linking Upstream Determinants To Downstream Interventions   Sarah Gehlert, Dana Sohmer, Tina Sacks, Charles Mininger, Martha McClintock, and Olufunmilayo Olopade [Abstract]

 

The Gap Gets Bigger: Changes In Mortality And Life Expectancy, By Education, 1981–2000   Ellen R. Meara, Seth Richards, and David M. Cutler [Abstract]

 

Race, Ethnicity, And The Education Gradient In Health   Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, Sharon Bzostek, Noreen Goldman, and Germán Rodríguez [Abstract]

Perspective

 

PERSPECTIVE: Challenges To Using A Business Case For Addressing Health Disparities   Nicole Lurie, Stephen A. Somers, Allen Fremont, January Angeles, Erin K. Murphy, and Allison Hamblin [Abstract]

Definitions & Data

 

PROLOGUE: Health Disparities: Definitions And Data [Extract]

 

When Does A Difference Become A Disparity? Conceptualizing Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Health   Paul L. Hebert, Jane E. Sisk, and Elizabeth A. Howell [Abstract]

 

Collecting Adequate Data On Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Health: The Challenges Continue   Linda T. Bilheimer and Jane E. Sisk [Abstract]

Specific Disparities

 

PROLOGUE: Addressing Specific Disparities [Extract]

 

New Evidence Regarding Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Mental Health: Policy Implications   Thomas G. McGuire and Jeanne Miranda [Abstract]

 

Giving Policy Some Teeth: Routes To Reducing Disparities In Oral Health   Susan A. Fisher-Owens, Judith C. Barker, Sally Adams, Lisa H. Chung, Stuart A. Gansky, Susan Hyde, and Jane A. Weintraub [Abstract]

 

Disparities In Human Resources: Addressing The Lack Of Diversity In The Health Professions   Kevin Grumbach and Rosalia Mendoza [Abstract]

States' Role

 

PROLOGUE: States’ Role In Addressing Disparities [Extract]

 

The Medical Tongue: U.S. Laws And Policies On Language Access   Mara K. Youdelman [Abstract]

Role Of States

 

State Variation In Health Insurance Coverage For U.S. Citizen Children Of Immigrants   Dolores Acevedo-Garcia and Lisa Cacari Stone [Abstract]

 

Moving Beyond Access: Achieving Equity In State Health Care Reform   Brian D. Smedley [Abstract]

Commentary

 

Reducing Racial And Social-Class Inequalities In Health: The Need For A New Approach   S. Leonard Syme [Abstract]

 

 

 

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