Feature Channels: Race and Ethnicity

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UCLA researchers have found that minority patients and those of lower socioeconomic status are far more likely to have advanced thyroid cancer when they are diagnosed with the disease than white patients and those in higher economic brackets. In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, the UCLA team looked at nearly 26,000 patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer and analyzed the impact of race and socioeconomic factors on the stage of presentation, as well as patient survival rates. The study appears in the January issue of the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

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As perceived by both patients and doctors, the cosmetic results after "lumpectomy" for breast cancer differ for African-American versus Caucasian women, suggests a pilot study in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery—Global Open®, the official open-access medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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While weight loss surgery offers one of the best opportunities to improve health and reduce obesity related illnesses, the nearly 100,000 Americans who undergo bariatric surgery each year represent only a small fraction of people who are medically eligible for the procedure. Among those who have surgery, Caucasian Americans are twice as likely as African Americans to have weight loss surgery. On the surface, the data appear to signal racial disparity, but when researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center dug deeper to ask why this variation exists, the answer was more complicated.

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Nearly half of black males and almost 40 percent of white males in the U.S. are arrested by age 23, which can hurt their ability to find work, go to school and participate fully in their communities. A new study released Monday (Jan. 6) in the journal Crime & Delinquency provides the first contemporary findings on how the risk of arrest varies across race and gender.

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Among Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, female, black, Asian and patients are substantially less likely to receive proven deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery to improve tremors and motor symptoms, according to a new report by a Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania researcher who identified considerable disparities among Medicare recipients receiving DBS for Parkinson's disease.

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The poor and minorities tend to suffer from poor sleep and chronic disease more often, but sleep does not appear to be a root cause of disease disparity, finds a new study in Ethnicity & Disease.

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Age at immigration and citizenship status may have health implications for immigrants, finds a new study in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

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Among African-American women with breast cancer, increased levels of the protein HSET were associated with worse breast cancer outcomes, according to results presented here at the Sixth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held Dec. 6-9.

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Diabetes was associated with an increased risk for developing a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma, and this association was highest for Latinos, followed by Hawaiians, African-Americans, and Japanese-Americans, according to results presented here at the Sixth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held Dec. 6-9.

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Researchers have uncovered a potential biological factor that may contribute to disparities in prostate cancer incidence and mortality between African-American and non-Hispanic white men in the United States, according to results presented here at the Sixth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held Dec. 6-9.

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Women with interruptions in health insurance coverage or with low income levels had a significantly increased likelihood of failing to receive breast cancer care that is in concordance with recommended treatment guidelines, according to results presented here at the Sixth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held Dec. 6-9.

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Certain genetic alterations to the PAX gene family may be responsible for survival disparities seen between African-American and non-Latino white men with head and neck cancer, according to results presented here at the Sixth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held Dec. 6-9.

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Despite working in more routine and less autonomous jobs, having fewer close friends at work, and feeling less supported by their coworkers, blacks report significantly more positive emotions in the workplace than whites, according to a new study.

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Hopkins Nursing-led study finds that when compared with other neighborhoods and without regard to income, predominantly black neighborhoods have the most limited access to supermarkets and to the healthier foods such markets sell.

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African Americans with high blood pressure who reported experiencing racial discrimination had lower rates of adherence to their blood pressure medication, finds a new study in the American Journal of Public Health.

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A large study co-authored by Dominic Raj, M.D., director of the division of nephrology and professor of medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences., identifies factors that mediate differences in the progression of chronic kidney disease in order to reduce the excess burden of end-stage renal disease and its complications in black patients.

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Online classified ad shoppers respond less often and offer lower prices when a seller is black rather than white, finds a newly published study based on an elegant field experiment.

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Researchers find a genetic difference in blood clotting mechanisms, which could help explain some of the racial health disparity in heart disease.

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Black men, vastly overrepresented among the prison population, comprise a high proportion of HIV-positive inmates and pose an infection risk to other inmates as well as members of their communities once they’re released. While sex is prohibited in U.S. prisons, sexual encounters are commonplace and few inmates express concern about getting or spreading HIV, according to a study of incarcerated Black men by Tawandra Rowell-Cunsolo, PhD, Assistant Professor of Social Welfare Science at the Columbia University School of Nursing.

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Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are less likely than non-Hispanic Whites to visit a health care professional, even with health insurance, finds a recent study in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.

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New research finds improvements in access to care and health outcomes across racial and ethnic groups in Massachusetts since implementation of the state’s health reform law in 2007.

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As American schools struggle with issues of race, diversity and achievement, a new study in the American Sociological Review has split the difference in the ongoing discussion of resegregation. Yes, black, white and Hispanic students were less likely to share classrooms in 2010 than in 1993, but no, that increase in segregation is usually not the result of waning efforts to reduce it.

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Nearly 50 years ago, Harold Franklin arrived on campus to register for classes in the graduate school and became the first African-American student to enroll at Auburn University. Other young men and women soon followed. Over the next 14 months, Auburn is celebrating these and other individuals who were involved in the integration of the university through a yearlong commemoration that includes performances, programs, lectures and other events that organizers say offer something of interest to everyone.

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When financial gain depends on cooperation, we might expect that people would put aside their differences and focus on the bottom line. But new research suggests that people’s racial biases make them more likely to leave money on the table when a windfall is not split evenly between groups.

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A survey of stores in a predominantly black, low income area of Philadelphia found that nearly 80 percent received low ratings for the availability of healthy food, finds a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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• Among kidney transplant recipients younger than 40 years of age, African Americans and individuals with less education were more likely to receive lower-quality organs than Caucasians and those with college degrees. • African Americans with higher education levels were not more likely to receive a lower-quality kidney than Caucasians with college degrees.

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• Hispanics were just as likely as non-Hispanic whites to be put on the kidney transplant waitlist. • Once waitlisted, Hispanics were less likely to receive a transplant from a deceased donor. This disparity was largely explained by differences in patient blood type and regional variability of organ supply among organ procurement organizations across the country.

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A study led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that the association between body fat and mortality due to cardiovascular disease differs between south and east Asians, a finding that has important implications for global health recommendations. Cardiovascular disease, a condition in which arteries thicken and restrict blood flow, kills more than 17 million people annually, making it the leading cause of death worldwide.

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To address the global phenomenon of disparities in respiratory health, the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society have released an official policy statement in which each pledges its commitment to reducing health disparities between the lowest and highest socioeconomic groups by continuing or initiating work with leaders from governments, academia, and other organizations to promote scientific inquiry and training, disseminate medical information and best practices, and monitor and advocate for public respiratory health.

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Older women living in the most deprived areas of the U.S. Appalachia had higher rates of late stage breast cancer than women in more affluent areas, finds a new study in Health Services Research.

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Pediatric researchers have found race- and ethnicity-based disparities in pain management and length of stay among children who came to hospital emergency departments for treatment of abdominal pain.

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Although slavery was abolished 150 years ago, its political legacy is alive and well, according to researchers who performed a new county-by-county analysis of census data and opinion polls of more than 39,000 southern whites.

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Case Western Reserve University is part of a landmark study that has discovered four novel gene variations associated with blood pressure.

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The highest lung function was found in individuals from North America and Europe. This was followed by South America, Middle East, China, sub-Saharan Africa, Malaysia and South Asia. South Asians had the lowest lung function, by 30% compared to North Americans and Europeans.

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• Income status is strongly associated with living kidney donation: lower income populations have lower rates of living kidney donation compared with higher income populations among both African Americans and Whites. • In low income populations, African Americans have lower rates of kidney donation compared with White Americans, but in high income populations, African Americans actually have higher rates of kidney donation compared with White Americans.

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Coverage of the March on Washington anniversary by PBS and NBC News will include a documentary produced by an Ithaca College faculty member and interviews conducted by Ithaca College students.

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Black patients preoccupied with racial concerns have higher blood pressure than those who aren’t, according to results of new Johns Hopkins-led research. The findings suggest that heightened race consciousness could at least in part account for the disproportionately high rate of hypertension in black Americans — the highest prevalence of any group in the United States and one of the highest rates in the world.

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A decade-long study in Corpus Christi, Texas, shows steep drops in stroke, but the stroke rate is still 34 percent higher among Mexican Americans than non-Hispanic whites.

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Need a loan? You appear to have an advantage if you’re an African-American female. According to a study by University of Iowa sociologist Sarah Harkness, lenders perceive African-American women just as favorably as white males, and would lend them as much money.

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Smart people are just as racist as their less intelligent peers — they’re just better at concealing their prejudice, according to a University of Michigan study.

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Multiracial people may be misidentified more often as being white than black and may value being accurately identified more so than single-race individuals, according to research presented at APA’s 121st Annual Convention.

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For Lauren Crudup, a third-year bioengineering student at the University of California, San Diego, the Conference for African-American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences (CAARMS) presented a unique opportunity to learn just how applicable mathematics is in the real-world—especially compared to the pure mathematics she learned in high school and earlier undergraduate courses.