Health Affairs New Issue Expands Focus On Disparities

Black, Latino Children More Than 12 Times As Likely As White Children To
Both Be Poor And Live In Poor Neighborhoods, Say Researchers In Health
Affairs

Almost 17 percent of black children and 20.5 percent of Latino children in
the United States live in 3double jeopardy,2 meaning that they live in both
poor families and poor neighborhoods, according to research released today
in the March/April issue of the journal Health Affairs. In contrast, only
1.4 percent of white children live in double jeopardy.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/2/321

In addition, poor white children are more likely than poor black or Latino
children to live in better neighborhoods. A typical poor white child lives
in a neighborhood where the poverty rate is 13.6 percent, while a typical
poor black child lives in a neighborhood where the poverty level is nearly
30 percent. A typical poor Latino child lives in a neighborhood where the
poverty rate is 26 percent. According to researchers Dolores Acevedo-Garcia,
an associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, and
colleagues, the type of neighborhood one lives in plays a significant role
in racial and ethnic health disparities.

The study is part of a thematic Health Affairs issue on disparities in
health that examines the link between racial and ethnic disparities and
health status and health care.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/current.shtml Other issue highlights
include:

Education Affects Life Expectancy. Despite increased attention during the
1980s and 1990s to reducing disparities in life expectancy among the
educationally disadvantaged, the educational gap in life expectancy is
rising. Between the 1980s and 2000, life expectancy increases occurred
nearly exclusively among highly educated groups, according to research from
Ellen Meara, an assistant professor of health economics at Harvard Medical
School, and colleagues.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/2/350

Policymakers Must View Oral Health As Essential. Oral health is not given
the same priority as general health in health care policy, despite research
that shows links between oral health and overall health, say researchers
Susan Fisher-Owens, an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the
University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues. The researchers
review disparities in oral health and call for more diversity within the
dental workforce, incentives for providers to work in areas where there is a
shortage of dentists, programs that address inequalities in dental services,
and better public insurance coverage for dental care.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/2/404

Health Affairs is pleased to make this article freely accessible, as it is
the Editor9s Choice for the March/April Issue.