Relatively few quality-improvement efforts have been aimed at reducing differences in children's care and outcomes across race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and insurance status. To inform quality-improvement efforts to reduce child health disparities, we summarize lessons learned from the adult disparities-intervention literature, identify interventions that have reduced disparities in ...

BACKGROUND In 2006, the city of Milwaukee ranked worse than any Wisconsin county for health outcomes and worse than all but 1 county for health determinants. METHODS To further examine disparities in health, Milwaukee city ZIP codes were stratified into 3 groups (lower, middle, and upper) by socioeconomic status (SES). Health determinants (15 measures) and health outcomes (2 measures) were co...

Previous studies found that uninsured and Medicaid insured cancer patients have poorer outcomes than cancer patients with private insurance. We examined the association between health insurance status and survival of New Jersey patients 18-64 diagnosed with seven common cancers during 1999-2004. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals for 5-year cause-specific survival were calculated...

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...

There is growing concern in the United States about avoidable, unjust differences in health associated with sociodemographic characteristics, such as socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. This concern has sparked research to identify how disparities develop and how they can be reduced. Studies showing that disparities occur at all levels of socioeconomic status, not simply at the very bottom...

Racial disparities in health care and health outcomes are a disturbing feature of the American health care system. Efforts to reduce or ameliorate these disparities must be informed by an understanding of the factors that underlie and contribute to them. The papers in this issue are based on a recent conference that was held at the University of Chicago to address this problem. Socioeconomic st...

BACKGROUND We compare disparities in health status between first-generation immigrants and others in the United States (US) and Canada. METHODS We used data from the Joint Canada-US Survey of Health. The regression models adjusted for demographics, socioeconomic status, and health insurance (the US). RESULTS In both countries, the health advantage belonged to immigrants. Fewer disparities b...

The 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey was administered to American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults in Nevada to determine whether health disparities exist between AI/ANs and the state’s general population. Results showed AI/ANs were 1.5 times more likely to smoke cigarettes, 3.5 times more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke, 3.2 times more likely to lack l...

We aimed to examine whether there is a correlation between the health recovery of industrial accident victims and their perceived socioeconomic status. Data were obtained from the first Panel Study of Worker's Compensation Insurance, which included 2,000 participants. We performed multivariate regression analysis and determined the odds ratios for participants with a subjectively lower socioeco...

BACKGROUND In the United States, disparities in health literacy parallel disparities in health outcomes. Our research contributes to how diverse indicators of social inequalities (i.e., objective social class, relational social class, and social resources) contribute to understanding disparities in health literacy. METHODS We analyze data on respondents 18 years of age and older (N = 14,592) ...