Health - Aids And Minorities

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 6.6
Dental visits in the past year according to selected characteristics: Selected years 1997–2001
[Data are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population]

	2 years of age and over1			2–17 years of age			18–64 years of age			65 years of age and over2
Characteristic	1997	1999	2001	1997	1999	2001	1997	1999	2001	1997	1999	2001
Geographic region	Percent of persons with a dental visit in the past year3
Northeast	69.6	70.9	72.2	77.5	78.5	79.6	69.6	71.5	72.2	55.5	54.3	59.6
Midwest	68.3	68.1	68.4	76.4	76.8	7.4	67.4	67.6	68.0	57.6	54.3	55.0
South	60.0	60.6	60.2	68.0	68.0	68.8	59.4	59.4	58.7	49.0	52.4	52.0
West	64.9	64.7	65.7	71.5	69.9	70.7	62.9	63.3	64.4	61.9	61.9	62.6
Location of residence
Within MSA7	66.5	67.1	67.0	73.6	73.1	73.9	65.7	66.8	66.0	57.6	58.1	59.1
Outside MSA7	59.1	58.3	60.3	69.3	70.7	70.7	58.0	56.2	59.1	46.1	45.0	47.2
* Estimates are considered unreliable. Data preceded by an asterisk have a relative standard error (RSE) of 20–30 percent. Data not shown have a RSE greater than 30 percent.
- - - Data not available.
1Estimates are age adjusted to the year 2000 standard using six age groups: 2–17 years, 18–44 years, 45–54 years, 55–64 years, 65–74 years, and 75 years and over.
2Estimates for the elderly are the percent of persons 65 years of age and over with a dental visit in the past year. Data from the 1997–2001 National Health Interview Survey estimate that 28–30 percent of persons 65 years of age and over (elderly) were edentulous (having lost all their natural teeth). In 1997–2001 about 70 percent of elderly dentate persons compared with 17–20 percent of elderly edentate persons had a dental visit in the past year.
3Respondents were asked "About how long has it been since you last saw or talked to a dentist?"
4Includes all other races not shown separately and unknown poverty status.
5The race groups, white, black, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN), Asian, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and 2 or more races, include persons of Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Starting with data year 1999 race-specific estimates are tabulated according to 1997 Standards for Federal data on Race and Ethnicity and are not strictly comparable with estimates for earlier years. The five single race categories plus multiple race categories shown in the table conform to 1997 Standards. The 1999 race-specific estimates are for persons who reported only one racial group; the category "2 or more races" includes persons who reported more than one racial group. Prior to data year 1999, data were tabulated according to 1977 Standards with four racial groups and the category "Asian only" included Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Estimates for single race categories prior to 1999 included persons who reported one race or, if they reported more than one race, identified one race as best representing their race. The effect of the 1997 Standard on the 1999 estimates can be seen by comparing 1999 data tabulated according to the two Standards: Age-adjusted estimates based on the 1977 Standard of the percent of persons with a recent dental visit are: 0.1 percentage points lower for white and black persons; identical for AI/AN persons; and 0.2 percentage points lower for Asian and Pacific Islander persons than estimates based on the 1997 Standards.
6Poor persons are defined as below the poverty threshold. Near poor persons have incomes of 100 percent to less than 200 percent of the poverty threshold. Nonpoor persons have incomes of 200 percent or greater than the poverty threshold. Poverty status was unknown for 20 percent of persons in the sample in 1997, 25 percent in 1998, 28 percent in 1999, 27 percent in 2000, and 28 percent in 2001.
7MSA is metropolitan statistical area.
SOURCE: "Table 78. Dental Visits in the Past Year According to Selected Characteristics: United States, Selected Years 1997–2001," in Health, United States, 2003, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD, 2003 [Online] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus03.pdf [accessed March 11, 2004]

AIDS, which is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is not transmitted casually, but only through the transfer of bodily fluids, such as blood and semen. The CDC reports only four methods of transmission: contaminated blood, sexual transmission, contaminated syringes from intravenous drug use, and perinatal (around the time of birth) transmission from a mother to her child or through breast milk.

Minorities have been especially hard hit by the AIDS epidemic. The CDC noted that, of the estimated 280,286 persons living with AIDS in 2002, nearly 50 percent (141,184) were non-Hispanic African-Americans. Approximately 38.3 percent (107,992) were non-Hispanic whites, and 10 percent (28,364) were Hispanics. Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) and Native Americans/Alaska Natives are the least likely groups to have AIDS, at less than 1 percent each. (See Table 6.12.)

More pediatric AIDS cases have been reported among non-Hispanic African-Americans and Hispanics than other groups. Through December 2001, 5,337 pediatric AIDS cases had been reported among non-Hispanic African-Americans, and 2,060 pediatric AIDS cases had been reported among Hispanics. In comparison, 1,579 cases had been reported among non-Hispanic whites, 54 cases had been reported among APIs, and 31 had been reported among Native Americans/Alaska Natives. (See Table 6.13.)

Although everyone can become infected with AIDS in the same ways, the proportions of the methods of transmission differ considerably by race. For non-Hispanic white men who contracted AIDS through December 2001, 74 percent did so from homosexual contact and 9 percent from intravenous drug use. While most non-Hispanic African-American men with AIDS (37 percent) and Hispanic men with AIDS (42 percent) acquired the disease through homosexual activity, a significant proportion of non-Hispanic African-American men (33 percent) and Hispanic men (34 percent) with AIDS contracted the disease through intravenous drug use. For API men with AIDS, most (71 percent) acquired the disease through sex with other men, while 5 percent reported being infected through intravenous drug use. Native American and Alaska Native men with AIDS cited the leading causes as sex with men (55 percent) and intravenous drug use (16 percent). (See Table 6.14.)

TABLE 6.7
No health insurance coverage among persons under 65 years of age, according to selected characteristics: Selected years 1984–2001
[Data are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population]

Characteristic	1984	1989	1995	1996	19971	1998	1999	2000	2001
	Number in millions
Total2	29.8	33.4	37.1	38.6	41.0	39.2	38.5	40.5	39.2
	Percent of population
Total, age adjusted2,3	14.3	15.3	15.9	16.5	17.4	16.5	16.1	16.8	16.2
Total, crude2	14.5	15.6	16.1	16.6	17.5	16.6	16.1	16.8	16.1
Age
Under 18 years	13.9	14.7	13.4	13.2	14.0	12.7	11.9	12.4	11.0
Under 6 years	14.9	15.1	11.8	11.7	12.5	11.5	11.0	11.7	9.7
6–17 years	13.4	14.5	14.3	13.9	14.7	13.3	12.3	12.8	11.7
18–44 years	17.1	18.4	20.4	21.1	22.4	21.4	21.0	22.0	21.7
18–24 years	25.0	27.1	28.0	29.3	30.1	29.0	27.4	29.7	29.3
25–34 years	16.2	18.3	21.1	22.4	23.8	22.2	22.1	22.7	22.3
35–44 years	11.2	12.3	15.1	15.2	16.7	16.4	16.3	16.8	16.7
45–64 years	9.6	10.5	10.9	12.1	12.4	12.2	12.2	12.7	12.3
45–54 years	10.5	11.0	11.6	12.4	12.8	12.6	12.8	12.8	13.0
55–64 years	8.7	10.0	9.9	11.6	11.8	11.4	11.4	12.5	11.0
Sex3
Male	15.0	16.4	17.2	17.8	18.5	17.5	17.2	17.8	17.2
Female	13.6	14.3	14.6	15.2	16.2	15.5	15.0	15.8	15.1
Race3,4
White only	13.4	14.2	15.3	15.8	16.3	15.2	14.6	15.2	14.7
Black or African American only	20.0	21.4	18.2	19.6	20.2	20.7	19.5	20.0	19.3
American Indian and Alaska Native only	#	#	#	#	#	#	38.3	38.2	33.4
Asian only	18.0	18.5	18.2	19.0	19.3	18.1	16.4	17.3	17.1
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander only	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	*	*	*
2 or more races	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	16.8	18.4	18.6
Hispanic origin and race3,4
Hispanic or Latino	29.1	32.4	31.5	32.4	34.3	34.0	33.9	35.4	34.8
Mexican	33.2	38.8	36.2	37.5	39.2	40.0	38.0	39.9	39.0
Puerto Rican	18.1	23.3	18.3	15.1	19.4	19.4	19.8	16.4	16.0
Cuban	21.6	20.9	22.1	18.8	20.5	18.4	19.7	25.2	19.2
Other Hispanic or Latino	27.5	25.2	29.7	30.5	32.9	31.1	30.8	32.7	33.1
Not Hispanic or Latino	13.0	13.5	14.0	14.5	15.1	14.1	13.5	14.1	13.4
White only	11.8	11.9	12.9	13.3	13.7	12.5	12.1	12.5	11.9
Black or African American only	19.7	21.3	18.1	19.5	20.1	20.7	19.4	20.0	19.2
Age and percent of poverty level5
All ages:3
Below 100 percent	34.7	35.8	31.7	34.5	34.4	34.6	34.4	34.2	33.3
100–149 percent	27.0	31.3	31.7	33.3	36.1	36.5	35.8	36.5	32.4
150–199 percent	17.4	21.8	24.0	24.3	25.9	26.7	27.7	27.3	26.4
200 percent or more	5.8	6.8	8.6	8.6	8.8	8.0	7.7	8.7	8.4
Under 18 years:
Below 100 percent	28.9	31.6	20.0	21.0	22.4	21.5	21.6	20.4	19.8
100–149 percent	22.8	26.1	24.8	25.0	26.1	28.0	24.9	25.6	18.5
150–199 percent	12.7	15.8	18.0	16.0	19.7	17.3	18.8	16.8	16.1
200 percent or more	4.2	4.4	6.4	6.1	6.1	5.0	4.4	5.5	4.5
Geographic region
Northeast	10.1	10.7	13.1	13.5	13.4	2.3	12.2	12.1	11.6
Midwest	11.1	10.5	12.1	12.2	13.1	11.9	11.5	12.3	11.7
South	17.4	19.4	19.2	20.0	20.7	20.0	19.8	20.4	20.0
West	17.8	18.4	17.7	18.6	20.4	19.9	18.6	20.2	18.6

Approximately 41 percent of non-Hispanic white women who contracted AIDS through December 2001 did so via intravenous drug use, and 40 percent did so via heterosexual contact. Among non-Hispanic African-American women, 39 percent contracted the disease via drug use while 39 percent did so through heterosexual contact. Among Hispanic women, 38 percent contracted AIDS via intravenous drug use while 47 percent did so via heterosexual contact. Among API women, 49 percent contracted AIDS via heterosexual contact, while among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, 37 percent did so via heterosexual activity. (See Table 6.15.)