Topic Page for African-American Health
Health care inequality and abortion rates
In a commentary that appears in the Philadelphia Inquirer Melissa Gilliam writes:
Behind virtually every abortion is an unintended pregnancy. African American women have higher abortion rates than their white peers because they have much higher rates of unintended pregnancy - three times higher than those of white women. In other words, there is no need to resort to far-flung conspiracy theories to explain the higher abortion rate among black women.
But there's more to the story. Across the board, African Americans often have worse sexual- and reproductive-health outcomes than people from other racial groups. For example, we experience much higher rates of sexually transmitted infections. These disparate rates reflect broader health disparities that can be seen in high rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease or cancer.
The root causes are manifold: a long history of discrimination; lack of access to high-quality, affordable health care; too few educational and professional opportunities; unequal access to safe, clean neighborhoods; and, for some African Americans, a lingering mistrust of the medical community.
EXTRA: In a terrific blog entry, Rural Doctoring talks about a hair on the back of her neck.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on August 12, 2008
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Category: African-American Health; Health Disparities; Health Inequities; Women's Health
Racial disparity in amputation rate
From UPI:
African-American neighborhoods have an incidence rate of amputations from diabetes five times higher than that of white neighborhoods, researchers say.
The study, published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, found that in the South and West sides of Chicago, African-Americans comprised less than 15 percent of the population, but accounted for 27 percent of all amputation discharges for 33,775 patients at 171 hospitals during the study period of 1987 to 2004.
The study can be found in the Journal of Vascular Surgery.
EXTRA: Aggravated Doc Surg is not happy with JCHAO.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on June 02, 2008
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Category: African-American Health; Amputations; Health Disparities; diabetes; racial differences
Prostate Cancer and African-American Males
The Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities is happy to announce that David Miller PhD will present, 'Prostate Cancer and African-American Males. What they know, their risk perceptions, and what they need to know.' as part of our Works in Progress Series.
Dr. Miller is an Associate Professor at the Mandel School of Applied Sciences. You can view Dr. Miller's Case faculty page here.
The presentation will take place at the Case Medical School T503 on Friday May 12, 2006 from 3-4 p.m.
Please RSVP to Sharon at slowstetter@metrohealth.org or by calling 216-778-8484.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on May 12, 2006
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Category: African-American Health; Prostate Cancer; Works in Progress