| Minority Health Month Focuses on Disparities Tri-City Voice, April 9, 2008 Race Plays a Role in Disease
Outcomes
Life expectancy and
overall health have improved for most
Americans in the last decade. Advances
in medicine have increased survival
rates for cancer and other serious
diseases and made chronic diseases like
diabetes much easier to manage. But for
racial and ethnic minorities in the
U.S., better health is more elusive.
April is Minority Health Month,
designed to raise awareness about the
health disparities that exist in this
country. Despite notable progress in the
overall health of our nation, there
continues to be a greater burden of
illness and death experienced by African
Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native
Americans, Pacific Islanders and other
minorities. These disparities are
believed to be the result of the complex
interaction between genetic variations,
environmental factors such as income and
living conditions, and specific health
behaviors, according to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s
Office of Minority Health and Health
Disparities (OMHD), which provided the
statistics for this article.
“When compared to Caucasians,
minority groups have a higher incidence
of chronic diseases, higher mortality,
and poorer health outcomes,” said Dr.
Hoang Trinh, a family practice physician
with Washington Township Medical Group.
“Socieconomic factors are one of the
biggest barriers for these minority
groups. Although the lack of financial
resources is a barrier to access for
many Americans, the impact on access
appears to be greater for minority
populations, many of whom are uninsured.
These patients are more likely to go
without needed medical care, more likely
go without prescription medicines, and
are more likely to use emergency rooms
as their regular source of care. They
are not getting the necessary health
screenings and basic vaccinations that
are vital for disease prevention.
Language is another huge barrier for
minority groups. Someone who doesn’t
speak English may be more reluctant to
go to the doctor. They may also have
problems obtaining, processing, and
understanding basic health information.”
Higher
Death Rates
Cardiovascular disease,
primarily heart disease and stroke,
causes more deaths in Americans of all
racial and ethnic groups than any other
disease. Yet African Americans face an
even bigger burden, with heart disease
death rates more than 40 percent higher
than for whites. African Americans have
the highest rate of high blood pressure
– a major risk factor for cardiovascular
disease – of all groups and tend to
develop it younger.
Cancer is the second leading cause
of death and African Americans face a
death rate for all cancers that is 30
percent higher than that for whites. For
prostate cancer, the death rate is more
than double that for whites.
While deaths caused by breast cancer
have decreased among white women,
African-American women continue to have
higher rates of mortality for breast
cancer despite having similar
mammography screening rates. Cervical
cancer rates for Vietnamese women are
nearly five times the rate for whites.
Chronic diseases like diabetes also
impact minorities harder. Diabetes rates
for American Indians and African
Americans, for example, are more than
twice that for whites. Hispanics are
almost twice as likely to die from
diabetes than are whites.
While the nation’s infant mortality
rate is down, the infant death rate for
African Americans and American Indians
is double that of whites. The death rate
for HIV/AIDS for African Americans is
more than seven time that for whites.
“Part of the issue is lack of
diversity in the healthcare workforce,”
Trinh said. “There aren’t enough
providers who speak other languages and
understand some of the cultural
barriers.”
While Trinh’s practice includes a
diverse patient group, he doesn’t see
these kinds of health disparities in his
practice because most of his patients
have medical coverage and there is a
diverse group of providers in the
Tri-City area, he said.
“In many minority communities, there
are a limited number of primary care
providers, specialists and diagnostic
facilities,” Trinh said. “That makes it
hard to get treatment in a reasonable
time period.”
To learn more about minority health
issues, visit
www.cdc.gov/omhd.
For more information about other
Washington Hospital programs and
services, visit
www.whhs.com. |
