There is broad consensus that reduction in health care disparities is an important and multifaceted challenge. One possible approach, among many others, starts with the attraction of women and men to the field of medicine who have a broad based education and who can demonstrate cultural understanding and sensitivity. In this context, the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) has been revised, ...

There is little consensus about the meaning of the terms "health disparities," "health inequalities," or "health equity." The definitions can have important practical consequences, determining the measurements that are monitored by governments and international agencies and the activities that will be supported by resources earmarked to address health disparities/inequalities or health equity. ...

PURPOSE Epidemiologists have long contributed to policy efforts to address health disparities. Three examples illustrate how epidemiologists have addressed health disparities in the United States and abroad through a "social determinants of health" lens. METHODS To identify examples of how epidemiologic research has been applied to reduce health disparities, we queried epidemiologists engaged...

INTRODUCTION Few studies have evaluated possible racial/ethnic disparities in chronic disease prevalence among US Air Force active-duty members. Because members have equal access to free health care and preventive screening, the presence of health disparities in this population could offer new insight into the source of these disparities. Our objective was to identify whether the prevalence of ...

INTRODUCTION Little is known regarding pediatric racial/ethnic disparities. We sought to determine if racial/ethnic disparities exist in the severity, mortality, or medical disposition of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS We analyzed data from a comprehensive trauma database assembled at a large independent children's hospital. Among all patients evaluated by the trauma service ...

In light of the increasing interest in documenting and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health, a pressing need exists for appropriate methods to measure these disparities at the local level. The authors measured county-level disparity in heart disease mortality between African Americans and whites in South Carolina during 1996– 2000, modelled via an extension of a spatial hierarchi...

BACKGROUND While Arab countries showed an impressive decline in child mortality rates during the past few decades, gaps in mortality by gender and socioeconomic status persisted. However, large socioeconomic disparities in child health were evident in almost every country in the region. METHODS Using available tabulations and reliable micro data from national household surveys, data for 18 Ar...

OBJECTIVE To measure relative and absolute educational disparities in mortality among U.S. adults with diabetes and to compare their magnitude with disparities observed within the nondiabetic population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 85,867 individuals (5,007 with diabetes), aged 35-84 years, who participated in the National Health Interview Survey from 1986 to 1996 were followed for...

a Bold New Vision of Health Disparities Intervention Research In 2003, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute on Aging, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research established the Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities (CPHHD) Program in response to a strategic priority at the National Inst...

BACKGROUND Not enough is known about the national prevalence of racial/ethnic disparities in children's medical and dental care. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this work was to examine racial/ethnic disparities in medical and oral health, access to care, and use of services in a national sample. METHODS The National Survey of Children's Health was a telephone survey in 2003-2004 of a national ran...