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November 30, 2007
Disparities in Depression at the State Level
Not all states are depressed equally. From the Columbus Dispatch:
If you felt like pulling the covers over your head this morning, it might have something to do with where you live.
In its first ranking of states and the District of Columbia, from least depressed to most depressed, the advocacy group Mental Health America put Ohio near the bottom, at No. 43.
The full report at Mental Health America.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 30, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 29, 2007
Cleveland and Medical Cost Burden
From The Commonwealth Fund:
The number of people with potentially high medical cost burdens varies widely across the nation, reflecting differences in the number of people who lack health insurance coverage and people who have coverage but nevertheless have high costs relative to their income.
Table 2 of the brief shows that Cleveland is ranked #11 out of 60 communities with regards to percent with high medical cost burden. And although Cleveland had only an 11% uninsured rate they were ranked the 4th highest with regards to percent insured with high medical cost burden.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 29, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities; Healthcare
November 27, 2007
Disparities in Breast Cancer Risk
From HealthDay:
Women who live in urban areas appear to have more dense breast tissue than their suburban or rural counterparts, new research suggests.
The finding is potentially important because women with more dense breasts have a higher risk of breast cancer.
The study, which compared rural women from Greece to suburban and urban women in the United Kingdom, found that city-dwelling women were 54 percent more likely than their rural peers to have dense breasts.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 27, 2007
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Category: Breast Cancer; Health Disparities; Urban Health
November 22, 2007
Key Elements Essential for Training Community Health Workers
The Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities and Cleveland State University's Center for Health Equity are co-sponsoring the next lecture in our Works in Progress series.
"Key Elements Essential for Training Community Health Workers" will be presented by:
Lena Grafton, MPH, CHES, Community Outreach Coordinator, St. Vincent Charity Hospital
Tanya D. Robinson, RN, LISW, Community Outreach Project Coordinator, St. Vincent Charity Hospital
Peter Whitt, MSW, LSW, Associate Director, Center for Health Equity
Date: Friday, December 14, 2007
Time: 3-4 pm
Location: Cleveland State University Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs Sweet Seminar Room - UR 241
1717 Euclid Avenue
Parking: 17th Street Parking Garage (Between Chester & Euclid).
Please RSVP your attendance to Kendra Daniel at k.daniel@csuohio.edu or by phone 216-687-4704.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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Posted by: David Porter on November 22, 2007
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Category: Works in Progress
November 21, 2007
Disparities in Seeking Cancer Treatment
From NYTimes.com:
The study looked at more than 125,000 people with colorectal cancer and more than 160,000 people with lung cancer over a three-year period. For both kinds of cancers, the researchers found, urban patients were more likely to seek treatment for the first time when they were in advanced stages of the disease.
This was true even though those cancer patients who lived in the country tended to be considerably poorer — and, in the case of the colorectal cancer patients, older — than those in the city. And people who live in cities are more likely to be near a broader range of medical services.
You can find the study at the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 21, 2007
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Category: Cancer Treatment; Colorectal Cancer; Disparities; Health Disparities; Lung Cancer
November 20, 2007
Non-English Speakers Get Fewer Services
From HealthDay via USNews.com:
Patients in the United States who speak little or no English are less likely to receive all recommended health care services than English-speaking patients, a new report finds.
Non-English speakers are also less likely to have received documentation that provides informed consent before they undergo invasive procedures, according to studies published in a special supplement of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Another study found that one in five hospital staff interpreters don't have competent bilingual skills.
and later:
Another study in the supplement found that Hispanics who don't speak English at home were much less likely (35 percent vs. 57 percent) to receive 10 recommended health care services than white, English-speaking patients.
You can view the contents of this supplemental issue at the journals website.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 20, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 19, 2007
Disparities in Diabetic Deaths in Youths
From Reuters:
From 2003 to 2004, the annual average diabetes death rate per million youths was 2.46 for black youths compared with 0.91 for white youths.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 19, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities; Youth Health
November 16, 2007
Disparities in Alzheimer Survival
From Reuters:
U.S. Latinos and blacks live longer after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease than whites even as autopsies show that the severity of the disease is similar among them, researchers said on Wednesday.
Latinos lived approximately 40 percent longer than whites after diagnosis with the disease, and blacks lived about 15 percent longer than whites, the researchers reported in the journal Neurology.
The article can be found at the journal Neurology.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 16, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 15, 2007
Disparities in Healthcare Quality
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported on Tuesday that the United States spends more per capita for health care but doesn't always get the best care.
From Reuters:
The United States spends far more than any other country on health care at $6,401 per person per year in 2005, public and private spending included. Luxembourg came next at $5,352, followed by Norway at $4,364. Turkey spent the least at $586. The average was $2,759.
The average death rate for all OECD countries was 227 per 100,000 people per year. It ranged from 176 deaths per 100,000 population in Iceland to 346 in Hungary. The United States scored 203, Japan 208 and Britain 214.
France, South Korea and Spain also had among the lowest rates while the United States was among the worst countries for deaths from heart disease at 94 per 100,000 women and 170 per 100,000 men.
The United States also scored poorly for infant mortality rates, which ranged from a low of two to three deaths per 1,000 live births in Japan, Sweden and Norway to 24 deaths per 1,000 live births in Turkey. The United States had 6 deaths per 1,000 live births, higher than the 5.4 average for OECD countries.
More info available at OECD.org.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 15, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 14, 2007
Disparity in a Nicotine Byproduct in Babies
From Reuters:
Babies of smokers have levels of the nicotine byproduct cotinine in their urine that are five times higher than babies of non-smokers, researchers report.
Cotinine may harm the heart and blood vessels by boosting both blood pressure and pulse, Dr. M. P. Wailoo, of the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, who was involved in the research, told Reuters Health.
You can find the full article at the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 14, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 13, 2007
Disparity in Infant Deaths
From the AP via Yahoo News:
In 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available, roughly seven babies died for every 1,000 live births before reaching their first birthday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. That was down from about 26 in 1960.
Babies born to black mothers died at two and a half times the rate of those born to white mothers, according to the CDC figures.
On a lighter note:
Dr. Jesse and Prevention Man reach out to the residents of North Omaha.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 13, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 09, 2007
Disparities in Male Depression
Earlier this week KaiserNetwork.org broadcasted a webcast of the Symposium on Health Disparities in Male Depression.
The symposium was hosted by: Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved, State of the Art, Inc. and the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center.
Topics listed to be discussed included cultural competency, quality of care, prevention and intervention, policy and next steps.
More information at the Community Voices website or you can watch complete videos of the symposium at KaiserNetwork.org.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 09, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 08, 2007
Disparities in the Homeless
In a troubling NYTimes.com article we learn that a disproportionate number of the homeless are U.S. veterans.
Veterans have long accounted for a high share of the nation’s homeless. Although they make up 11 percent of the adult population, they make up 26 percent of the homeless on any given day, the National Alliance report calculated.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 08, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 06, 2007
Disparities in Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Screening
The Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities and Cleveland State University's Center for Health Equity are co-sponsoring the next lecture in our Works in Progress series.
"Disparities in Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Screening" will be presented by Jean Stevenson, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery CWRU and director of Breast Clinic and BREAST Project. Also presenting will be Ami Peacock, LISW, MSW, Cancer Care Center MetroHealth Medical Center.
Date: Friday, November 9, 2007
Time: 3-4 pm
Location: Case Western Reserve University- Medical School- T503. 2109 Adelbert Avenue.
Please RSVP your attendance to Sharon Lowstetter at slowstetter@metrohealth.org or by phone 778-8484.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 06, 2007
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Category: Breast Cancer; Screening Rates; Works in Progress
November 05, 2007
Disparities in Blood Pressure Control in Heart Failure Patients
HealthDay.com is reporting on a study that was presented Sunday at the AHA annual meeting and looked at data for more than 37,000 heart failure patients.
At the time of hospital discharge, 76.3 percent of white men and 71.1 percent of white women had blood pressure controlled at an optimal level (less than 140/90 mm Hg), compared with only 63 percent of black men and 62.9 percent of black women.
The abstract of the presentation can be viewed here.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 05, 2007
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Category: Health Disparities
November 02, 2007
US has highest medical error rate
From the Commonwealth Fund:
Among adults in the seven countries, U.S. adults reported the highest overall error rates, including lab and medication errors. One-third of U.S. patients (32%) with chronic conditions reported a medical, medication, or lab test error in the past two years, compared with 28 percent of patients in Canada, 26 percent in Australia, and fewer patients in the other countries. Patient-reported errors were highest in every country for those seeing multiple doctors or with multiple chronic illnesses.
The surveyed countries were Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Other findings:
Of adults in the U.S., 37% "skipped medications, did not see a doctor when sick, or did not obtain recommended care in the past year because of the cost." This was the highest number of the seven surveyed countries.
19% of U.S. adults had "serious" trouble paying medical bills. This was more than double the rate of the next highest country.
More than one-third (34%) of Americans think their health care system needs to be rebuilt. Again the highest of the seven surveyed countries.
It is interesting to note that the United States in the only country of the seven surveyed to not have a universal health insurance system.
The journal Health Affairs has the complete study.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 02, 2007
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Category: Health Care
November 01, 2007
Commercialization of Health Care Responsible for Disparities in China?
From Reuters:
Hong Kong-born Margaret Chan said the cost of health care in China was outstripping income growth and that poor health was a major cause of poverty among China's hundreds of millions of rural residents.
"The payment of providers and fees charged for services has commercialized health care, compelling providers of care to focus on profit rather than the most efficient health services," she told a conference in Beijing.
"Health education and preventive services are neglected. Why? Because these activities do not guarantee income. As a result, simple conditions are often treated at very high cost."
The costs of seeing a doctor or staying in hospital are out of reach for many in the world's fourth-largest economy, and the lack of access combined with corruption has made the issue a source of social unrest.
We blogged before about the effects of privatizing health care in China. However, one quote from the New England Journal of Medicine deserves repeating:
From 1978 to 1999, [China's] central government's share of national health care spending fell from 32 percent to 15 percent. At the same time, the central government transferred much of the responsibility for funding health care services to provincial and local authorities and required them to provide that support through local taxation. That had the immediate effect of favoring wealthy coastal provinces over less wealthy rural provinces and laid the basis for major and growing disparities between investments in urban and rural health care.
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Posted by: David Porter on November 01, 2007
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Category: China