Health - Social Characteristics Of Minority Populations That Affect Health, Self-assessment Of Health, Pregnancy And Birth
Minority groups face particular health-care challenges in addition to those of the general population. The Office of Minority Health was created in 1985 to advocate culturally and linguistically competent services and prevention efforts for minority communities. Among their main areas of concern:
- Infant mortality (death) rates for African-Americans and Native Americans/Alaska Natives are significantly higher than they are for whites.
- African-American men under age sixty-five develop prostate cancer at a rate nearly twice that of white Americans.
- Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) have the highest rates of tuberculosis.
- Hispanics have two to three times the rate of stomach cancer.
- Native Americans/Alaska Natives suffer from diabetes at nearly three times the average rate, while African-Americans suffer 70 percent higher rates than whites.
- More than 75 percent of AIDS cases among women and children occur among racial or ethnic minorities.
Additional Topics
The demographic profiles of non-Hispanic African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and Alaska Natives differ considerably from those of the nonminority population. Because a high percentage of minorities live in urban areas, they are exposed to a greater number of environmental hazards, including pollution, traffic hazards, substandard and/or overcrowded housing, a…
In addition to indicating physical and mental illnesses, the way people feel often reflects their attitudes toward themselves and society. In 2001, 15.5 percent of non-Hispanic African-Americans reported their health as fair or poor, compared to 7.9 percent of non-Hispanic white individuals. Approximately 14.5 percent of Native Americans and Alaska Natives reported their health as fair or poor, as…
The importance of early prenatal care cannot be overemphasized, as doctors are now better able to detect, and often correct, potential problems early in pregnancy. While every pregnant woman should receive prenatal care, the National Center for Health Statistics believes the United States is capable of guaranteeing that more than 90 percent of pregnant women receive prenatal care during the first …
Since the 1980s, as more outpatient clinics and other out-reach health facilities have opened, most Americans have had increased opportunities to seek medical help. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported that in 2001 minorities were more likely than whites to have made no health-care visits to a doctor's office or an emergency department during the past twelve months. Whi…
According to the NCHS, in 2001, 19.2 percent of non-Hispanic African-Americans under the age of sixty-five had no private health insurance coverage, compared to 11.9 percent of their non-Hispanic white counterparts. More than a third (34.8 percent) of all Hispanics had no insurance, while 17.1 percent of Asians failed to have health insurance. (See Table 6.7.) In 2001 Medicaid (the federally funde…
In 2001 Native Americans and Alaska Natives were more likely to smoke than any other group, with 40.4 percent
TABLE 6.5 Health care visits to doctor's offices, emergency departments, and home visits within the past 12 months, according to selected characteristics: Selected years 1997–2001 [Data are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized p…
In 2001, 67.7 percent of non-Hispanic white Americans aged eighteen and over reported that they had consumed alcohol within the past month, compared to 51.5 percent of Native Americans/Alaska Natives, 49.8 percent of Hispanics, 46.5 percent of non-Hispanic African-Americans, and 44.7 percent of Asians. (See Table 6.10.) In terms of binge drinking, defined as five or more drinks on one occasion in …
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by a virus that affects the body's immune system, making it difficult to fight invasions from infection or other foreign substances. As a result, persons infected with the AIDS virus are subject to a number of opportunistic infections, primarily Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma, a form of skin cancer.
TABLE 6…
Cancer distribution among various population groups varies according to racial and ethnic background. Such risk factors as occupation, use of tobacco and alcohol, sexual and reproductive behaviors, and nutritional and dietary habits influence the development of cancer. In addition to
TABLE 6.7 No health insurance coverage among persons under 65 years of age, according to selected characterist…
The U.S. Hispanic population faces significant obstacles to good health. For instance, in 2002 Hispanics made up 21.8 percent of the population living below the poverty level. (See Table 5.6 in Chapter 5.) Furthermore, Hispanic Americans are also over-represented in low-paying jobs in the manufacturing and construction industries, as well as farming and metal mining, all of which report a high num…
Native American diets have been negatively affected by the introduction of nonnative foods. Although there are considerable tribal variations in diet, studies show that the less Native Americans eat of their traditional foods, the greater their levels of obesity and adult-onset diabetes. High-carbohydrate, high-sodium, and high-saturated-fat contents can characterize most current Native American d…
The typical Asian/Pacific Islander (API) diet, low in fat and cholesterol, is generally healthful. The staple food for many APIs is rice. Consumption of vegetables is relatively high; pork and fish are also commonly eaten. Dairy products are used less frequently. The traditional sources of calcium are soybean curd, sardines, and green, leafy vegetables. At the same time, many Asian-Americans pride…
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