Today's Date: March 29, 2024
Amerex Group Unveils Red Carter Swimwear's Revitalized Collection   •   YMCA of the USA Partners With Old Spice To Increase High School Graduation Among Boys And Young Men Of Color Through Mentorship   •   VIRGIN HOTELS CHAMPIONS INCLUSIVE TRAVEL FOR NEURODIVERSE TRAVELERS   •   Fosun Management on 2023 Annual Results: Focusing on Core Industries with Established Advantages   •   Midea Group releases its first-ever ESG brand story with an unexpected VIP visit highlighting its commitment to sustainability.   •   Suffolk Kicks off 2024 “Build With Us @ Suffolk” Program in Boston for Trade Partners, Opening Doors for Minority-,   •   Anaergia Announces Delay in the Filing of Its Audited Financial Statements and Related Disclosures   •   Empire State Realty Trust Receives WELL Health-Safety Leadership Award; Becomes Among the First Commercial Office and Multifamil   •   Chosgo K23: One of the Best Bluetooth Hearing Aids for Seniors   •   Parkland Corporation Announces the Results of the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders   •   National University Receives 2024 Military Friendly® Gold Designation   •   Equalpride Partners with TransLash Media for Trans Day of Visibility, Amplifying Voices of Black Trans Femmes in the Arts   •   Carnegie Learning Named 2024 SIIA CODiE Award Finalist for Best Educational Game and Best AI Implementation in Ed Tech   •   Jamieson Wellness Publishes Inaugural Sustainability Impact Report   •   Sypher Secures Strategic Partnership with FAIA to Fuel Growth   •   Re:wild and Colossal Biosciences team up to leverage revolutionary technology to save critically endangered species on the brink   •   Anaergia Announces Escrow Closing of Second Tranche of the Strategic Investment   •   Visit Visalia Recognizes Autism Awareness Month in April   •   Coachella Concerned That People Have Sex, Says AHF   •   Make-A-Wish and celebrity wish granters announce goal to recruit 1 million people to become "WishMakers"
Bookmark and Share

Preventive Care Gaps Send Blacks To Hospital Earlier Than Whites

 

 

 

 

Newswise — Receiving prompt treatment for common health problems like diabetes, pneumonia and high blood pressure can save patients trips to the hospital and thousands of dollars in medical care costs.

However, African-Americans with preventable conditions often fail to get adequate care, resulting in hospitalizations years earlier than whites with the same conditions, results from a new study suggest.

“Blacks were hospitalized, on average, five years younger than whites for health conditions that could be prevented with adequate ambulatory care,” said senior study author Jeannette Ickovics, Ph.D., director of social and behavioral sciences at the Yale University School of Public Health.

The study, which appears online and in the January issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined racial disparities in hospitalization for 6,815 white and black adults with a variety of preventable acute and chronic conditions.

“Good primary care and a good strategy centering on prevention and health promotion would help to avoid these hospitalizations,” said Brian Smedley, Ph.D., vice president and director of the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. He was not affiliated with the study.

For all health conditions combined, African-Americans needed hospitalization an average nine years earlier than whites. After taking insurance status and other factors into account, researchers found African-Americans entered the hospital at a significantly younger age — an average of five and a half years younger — than whites with the same conditions.

“For the individual, quality of life is greatly reduced when hospitalization is required. For the family, the social and economic costs can be profound when a family member — and possible wage earner or caregiver — is hospitalized at younger ages,” Ickovics said.

There was a 12-year difference in the age at hospitalization for blacks with diabetes compared to whites. Blacks with bacterial pneumonia required hospitalization seven and a half years earlier.

“While the younger age at hospitalization was not necessarily surprising, the magnitude of the difference was indeed surprising,” Ickovics said.

Significant racial disparities also existed for hospitalization with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and dehydration.

Smedley, who described the study as “very important,” said that the results “point to structural inequities in our health care system, even at the same level of insurance.”

“These are problems experienced more deeply by racial and ethnic minorities than they are by whites,” Smedley said. “It tells us our health care system is failing African-Americans.”

 

American Journal of Preventive Medicine: Contact the editorial office at (858) 534-9340 or eAJPM@ucsd.edu.

Biello KB, et al. Racial disparities in age at preventable hospitalization among U.S. adults. Am J Prev Med 38(1), 2010.

Interviews Jeannette Ickovics at (203) 785-6213 orJeannette.Ickovics@yale.edu

 
Source: Health Behavior News Service


STORY TAGS: preventive care, blacks, african, americans, minority, news, hospitalization, hospital, treatment, pneumonia, high blood pressure, illness, healthcare, health, medicine,



Back to top
| Back to home page
Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News