News Feature Channel: Health Disparities

US Air Pollution Monitoring Network Has Gaps in Coverage, Say Researchers

American Chemical Society (ACS) — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 08:00:48 EST

Motivated by a new EPA standard for fine particulate matter, a type of air pollution, researchers in Environmental Science & Technology Letters have developed a computer model that reveals an urgent need to fix gaps in the current monitoring network.

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Adults Have Third Highest Cardiovascular Death Rate in the U.S.

American College of Physicians (ACP) — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 17:00:00 EST

A study of nationwide mortality data found that Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (NHPI) adults have substantially higher cardiovascular death rates than Asian adults and the third highest cardiovascular death rate in the United States behind Black and White adults.

Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic Hosts Screen and Clean for El Paso 915 Stars Special Olympics Soccer Team

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 15:35:44 EST

According to the Institute for Oral Health, one-third of individuals in households experiencing disabilities had not visited a dentist in two or more years, compared to 19.7% in households without disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are also twice as likely to experience high dental anxiety (21.8%) compared to those without disabilities (10.6%).

Expert Available: World Mental Health Day

George Washington University — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:00:09 EST

World Mental Health Day is meant to raise awareness around mental health issues and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health. ...

Ben Brisbois: Working Together for Social and Environmental Justice

Universite de Montreal — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 12:00:08 EST

Recently appointed to UdeM's School of Public Health, the assistant professor works to understand and reduce health disparities.

UC Irvine-Led Report Shows Negative Health Impacts of Data Aggregation

University of California, Irvine — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 15:05:03 EST

Findings call for urgent need to disaggregate data among Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans populations in California

Kids Miss Out on Learning to Swim During Pandemic, Widening Racial and Ethnic Disparities

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 00:05:00 EST

Nearly three out of four kids in Chicago had no swimming lessons in summer of 2022, with significant racial and ethnic differences, according to a parent survey from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago published in Pediatrics.

NJ and NY Researchers Call for More Funding and Tailored Approaches to Support Asian Health Equity

Rutgers University-New Brunswick — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 12:05:15 EST

The Rutgers-NYU Center for Asian Health Promotion and Equity (CAHPE), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities-funded research center within Rutgers Health, developed two policy briefs outlining recommendations for bettering health inequities among Asian Americans.

Study Reveals Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening

Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 11:05:23 EST

Significantly more younger people underwent colorectal cancer screening after the recommended age to begin such screening was lowered, Yale researchers report. In a new study of 10 million insured people aged 45 to 49, researchers found that a recommendation by the United States Preventative Services Task Force to drop the age for starting colorectal cancer screening by five years to age 45 was highly effective -- tripling the rate of screening overall -- but the magnitude of increase was significantly smaller for low-income and rural populations.

UCLA Researchers Develop New Risk Scoring System to Account for Role of Chronic Illness in Post-Surgery Mortality

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 19:05:58 EST

A UCLA research team has created the Comorbid Operative Risk Evaluation (CORE) score to better account for the role chronic illness plays in patient's risk of mortality after operation, allowing surgeons to adjust to patients' pre-existing conditions and more easily determine mortality risk.

Sociologists Estimate the Impact of Alaska's Universal Cash Payments on Birth Outcomes

American Sociological Association (ASA) — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 13:00:00 EST

A sociological investigation estimated the effects of Alaska's universal cash transfer program on newborn health outcomes using data spanning 28 years.

Breast Cancer Experts & Story Ideas

University of Miami Health System, Miller School of Medicine — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:05:26 EST

Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center experts attack breast cancer on multiple fronts to advance cures, reduce racial disparities and save lives. New imaging and surgical techniques help.

Female Representation Sees Improvement in High Paying Medical Specialties

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:50:35 EST

According to University of Michigan researchers, the number of female residents matriculating to high paying medical specialties has increased.

UCSF Radiation Oncologist Honored for Prostate Cancer Care and Research

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:30:59 EST

Mack Roach, III, MD, FASTRO, has been chosen by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) to receive its 2024 Gold Medal Award. Roach is being recognized with ASTRO's highest honor for his outstanding contributions to the field of radiation oncology.

Heart Transplant Patients From Socioeconomically Deprived Areas Face Higher Risk for Postoperative Complications, Earlier Death Than Others

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:00:00 EST

Heart transplant patients who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas are more likely to experience post-surgical complications and die within five years than patients who live in more advantaged areas, even when those patients were transplanted at topnotch high-volume hospitals.

Spiritual Themes, Distrust May Factor Into Black Patients' Reluctance to Participate in Cancer Clinical Trials

American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 10:55:00 EST

Surveys from two Baltimore medical centers shed light on what may be fueling enrollment declines

Are Gender and Sexual Identity Linked to Brain Health?

American Academy of Neurology (AAN) — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:00:00 EST

LGBTQ+ people may be more likely to have negative brain health outcomes, including a higher risk of dementia and late-life depression, than people who are cisgender and straight, according to a study published in the September 25, 2024, online issue of Neurology(r), the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. These results do not prove that sexual or gender diversity causes neurological diseases, they only show an association.

Latest Data Shows Decreases in Cancer Diagnoses and Early-Stage Disease Continued in Second Year of COVID-19 Pandemic

American Cancer Society (ACS) — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 17:00:27 EST

Using newly released cancer surveillance data, researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) found decreases in cancer diagnoses and proportion of early-stage diagnoses continued in 2021 in the United States during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proportion of late-stage diagnoses was lower in 2021 than in 2020, but has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The findings will be presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium in San Francisco, September 27 - 28, 2024.

20-Week Ultrasound in Pregnancy is a Key Driver of Disparities in Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Defects

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 10:00:00 EST

Patients insured by Medicaid are less likely to get prenatal diagnosis of heart defects than those with private insurance, and this disparity can be partly attributed to lower rates of 20-week ultrasound in pregnant people with public insurance, according to a study led by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago in collaboration with Advocate Christ Children's Hospital. The study was published in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis.

Getting to the Root of the Problem: $8M Funds Investigation into Oral Health Disparities

University of Utah Health — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 11:05:42 EST

An eight-year project aims to uncover the complex web of interacting factors that drive oral health inequity, which in turn affects many other serious health conditions.