Midterm 3 Flashcards
Basic Patterns in Racial Disparities:
- Found from birth to death
- Disparities in mortality are found in varying causes of death
- Disparities are dynamic: some have grown over time, but a few have declined or, indeed, disappeared
Suspected Mechanisms of Racial Disparities:
- Socioeconomic advantages, including SES and subsequent health behavior
- Differences in the effects of these advantages
- Institutions that perpetuate disadvantages
- Genetics
Most studies investigating racial disparities are based upon ____________.
self-identified race/ethnicity
What does it mean that self-identified race/ethnicity is a surrogate of many things?
Self-identified race is indicative of culture, genetics, and the social determinants of health. All of these things impact health or disease.
Are the genetics of populations different?
There is a case to be made for genetic differences across the world. Take for example certain genetic diseases that are specifically inflicting a race such as Tay Sachs in Ashkenazi Jews. However, the value of continental race as a classification is limited.
Human genetic variation does not naturally aggregate into subgroups that match human conceptions of racial categories.
What are examples of diseases that impact specific races?
Tay Sachs - Ashkenzai Jews
Sickle Cell Anemia - African Americans
Crohn’s Disease - Japanese
Why isn’t there a great basis for continental race classification?
Because the molecular variance when the world is split into 7 regions is 3.6%
Life expectancy of white and black males at birth over time (does the disparity increase or decrease?):
1900:
White Male- 46.6
Black Male- 32.5
Difference = 14.1
1950:
White Male- 66.5
Black Male- 59.1
Difference = 7.4
2007:
White Male- 75.9
Black Male- 70
Difference = 5.9
The disparity is decreasing over time (albeit the rate is slowing).
Life expectancy of white and black females at birth over time (does the disparity increase or decrease?):
1900:
White Female- 48.7
Black Female- 33.5
Difference = 15.2
1950:
White Female- 72.2
Black Female- 62.9
Difference = 9.3
2007:
White Female- 80.8
Black Female- 76.8
Difference = 4
Disparity is decreasing over time
Disparity Mortality trends:
- Disparity gap in life expectancy at birth is closing over time, albeit at a slower rate.
- Gap in life expectancy at birth used to be wider for women but now is wider for men.
- Gap in life expectancy at 65 is still present. Shows that this disparity is seen at all ages. The difference is smaller than for life expectancy at birth.
Trend between black female and white male life expectancy at birth:
Black female life expectancy only just recently went above white male. They had been equal for some time (which is messed up considering females live longer)
What are period effects?
Time periods where improvements are much slower versus time where improvement is rapid.
What is crossover?
That as age increases a certain point comes where the death rate of whites (in both sexes) surpasses the death rate of minorities.
Survival of the fittest?
There is poor data quality among older African Americans
What are the 1 and 2 leading causes of death in all races?
Diseases of the Heart
Malignant Neoplasms
Trends with leading causes of death by race:
- Blacks are disproportionately affected by assault and homicide
- Whites are disproportionately affected by Alzheimer’s Disease
- Blacks are disproportionately affected by HIV
What conditions are more important in their contribution to racial disparities in health?
- Cardiovascular Disease
- HIV
- Trauma
- Diabetes
Trends with infant mortality rates among races:
- Blacks have an extremely high infant mortality rate in comparison to whites and all other races
- Hispanics grouped together have the same infant mortality rate to whites, however when broken into specific ethnic groups some Hispanic groups have much higher infant mortality
- Asian Pacific Islander similar to white
- American Indian/Alaskan Native has higher infant mortality than Whites
What is the relationship between size of disparity and severity of disease?
Largest disparities exist in the leading causes of death
In diseases like the flu and pneumonia the small disparities that existed have been virtually eliminated
Size if disparity basically increases with severity of disease
What can eliminate a large disparity?
The application of a widely diffused technology can eliminate a large disparity in health because variations in motivation, knowledge, and resources play a smaller role in such cases.
P sure this is how the flu disparity was eliminated.
Relationship between race and self reported health:
Blacks report worse self rated health across the board
Morbidity trends by race
Blacks have more than whites:
- High Blood Pressure
- Diabetes
- Heart Conditions (in women specifically)
- Stroke (in men specifically)
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Stomach Ulcers
- Kidney and bladder issues
Whites have more than blacks:
- Cancer (even moreso in women, about equal for men)
- Lung Disease
- Heart Conditions (in men specifically)
- High Cholesterol
- Poor eye sight
- Back Problems
- Emotional and psych problems
Relationship between mental illness and race
Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks had lower risk for common internalizing disorders
There is apparently a presence of “protecting factors” that originate from childhood. Have greater persistance
Relationship between race and sources of care:
Racial differences in the quality of care and source of care, but not necessarily the amount of care.
Shocking, whites go to private doctors 92% whereas Blacks go to private doctors 77% and then have a mix of family health centers, hospital outpatient department and a bit more ER than whites
Explain race differences in morbidity:
Behavior vs. SES
Blacks have a higher relative risk for many big diseases (SES impacts behavior)
Recall results regarding SES and mortality
(Blacks are more uninsured)
Explain race mortality differences:
- But It’s Not All SES for Mortality
- Difference at all levels of education
- Double jeopardy of low SES and racial/ethnic minority status
- Minorities have fewer returns to SES
Explain birthweight differences:
Education, marriage, and assorted risk factors explain 64% of the black-white difference, but don’t explain the whole thing
–Model 2 adds controls for census tract
–Model 3 adds education, nativity, marital status, and age
–Model 4 adds health behaviors
Impact of discrimination on health studies:
Some weaknesses
–Many use primitive measures of discrimination
–More research on mental health than physical health (and, even there, more research on non-specific distress)
–Little contextual information: other kinds of stress, coping
Some results
–Generally has a deleterious effect consistent with that of other stressors
-Non-linear responses: u-shaped relationship with blood pressure
Results from MIDUS Study:
Blacks have a higher lifetime prevalence of discrimination in all categories (such as denied a bank loan, received inferior healthcare, etc.)
They also report higher day to day discrimination
Reasons for discrimination trends:
Blacks get most reported racial discrimination
Whites cite gender, SES, appearance more
Studies of discrimination in health
May explain only a fraction of the association between race and health, although seems to have powerful effects
Coping appears to play an important role
–Racial/ethnic identity
–Social support
–Confrontation rather than passive acceptance
When does the rise in the number of prisoners and ex prisoners happen?
1970
Current prison stats, number of former prisoners,
Current: 2.5 million in prison and on parole
–2% of adult males (2004)
–6.6% of black adult males (2004)
Former: 5.2 million former prisoners
Total: 7.7 million in 2010
–3.4% of adult population (2010)
–5.5% of adult males (2004)
–17% of black adult males (2004)
Lifetime risk of incarceration trends:
- More educated less likely
- Race obv
Why did prison rates go up after 1970?
significant rise in crime, war on drugs, mandatory sentencing, etc bc across the board, there isn’t an age group or type of offense that’s increased
Crime rates went up
Arrest rates went down
Incarceration rates went up
What are the health effects of incarceration?
Immediate effects
•Infectious disease
•Trauma
•Prison health care
Long-term effects •Marital instability •Unemployment and slow wage growth •Uninsurance •Discrimination
What are the effects of imprisonment on employment?
Sharp drop in receiving a callback for a job if they were imprisoned. There is also racial inequity here because there’s a 40% difference between whites who get called back and blacks who do not
This was determined from audit studies in which checkbox on an app was what told the interviewer or using a parole officer as a reference or having work experience in prison
The wage difference between those with and without a record is large and grows with age (i.e., cumulative disadvantage)
Effects of current incarceration on health:
Mortality in prisons is low for African Americans
Medical treatment often improves during incarceration
What are some considerations for prison healthcare?
–Quality varies from state to state
–Nominal copayment, garnished from prison wages
–Universal exam upon admission, but frequency varies thereafter
–Service provision sensitive to overcrowding
But many inmates are uninsured prior to admission
–Black Uninsurance: 19.7%
–White Uninsurance: 10.7%
–
How many years of life lost after spending time in prison on average?
US Pop you’re looking at 6 years of life lost.
Effects on later mortality once you’re released:
Risk of mortality among released inmates is–3.5 times higher than the state average
–Especially high 1-2 weeks after release
–Leading causes were drug overdose, cardiovascular disease, homicide, and suicide
Effects of incarceration on morbidity:
Incarceration is linked with stress-related disorders and infectious disease, but not other conditions
-Effects emerge only after release
Treatment disparities across race:
Found across a wide range of disease areas and clinical services
Found across a range of clinical settings (e.g., public and private hospitals, teaching and non-teaching hospitals), although some hospitals are clearly better than others
On medicare blacks typically receive services ___________ whites on medicare
less than
What are some explanations for why blacks on medicare receive/use less services?
- Differences in access
- Racial mismatching
- Different underlying disease severity
- Different patient preferences
Racial Matching
having a doctor of the same race
If stereotypes are perpetuated by residential segregation, then racial matching may matter
If stereotypes are perpetuated at medical schools, then both minority and white physicians are biased
Blacks and Hispanics seek care from physicians of their own race because of personal preference and language, not solely because of geographic accessibility
Blacks are least likely
Patient preference vs race
little race difference
Understanding what someone would go to seek care for
For Black men mortality higher out of prison than inside. Why?
o Prison guarantees healthcare
o Risk of violent death is likely higher outside of prison than inside of prison
Results of study with patients of different races and genders presenting with chest pain:
- No race difference in physicians estimate of likelihood of coronary heart disease
- Race and sex mattered for cardiac catheterization referral (type of chest pain mattered too), personality had nothing to do with it
What are the four general encounters of the clinical mechanism?
- Unobserved Heterogeneity
- Prejudice: being less willing to interact with minorities, a negative attitude or affect
- Clinical Uncertainty: interpreting a symptom of illness as less reliable
- Stereotyping: holding a belief that minorities are less likely to comply
What is the gender and health paradox?
That women have lower mortality and higher morbidity
- Although women are living longer, they report worse self rated health than men and they typically are sicker during their lifetime
How has the gap in life expectancy between men and women changed?
Went from 7 years in 1990 to 5.2 years in 2004
it’s narrowing
What makes up women’s morbidity?
–Chronic diseases (20-30%)
–Short-term disability: 25% more days
–Long-term disability: 40% more whole days in bed
Trends in gender gap in life expectancy at birth
- From 1940-1990 we have an especially large difference in life expectancy at birth
- From 1900-1930 there is a very small sex difference in life expectancy
o Why? Could be that men are dying from accidents more?
The difference in male and female life expectancy is declining but it is currently _________ as the race difference in life expectancy
the same
What are the two leading causes of death in men and women in 2005?
Heart disease and malignant neoplasms
- Leading causes of death are the same between men and women, not always seen in other racial disparities
Trends in causes of death between men and women:
o Suicide deaths are considerably more common in men than women. It makes their top 10 and it doesn’t make the list for women
o Alzheimer’s disease is more prevalent in women than men – this is because it is a disease that you have to age into and men aren’t necessarily getting to that age
o Diabetes and unintentional injuries are slightly more common in men than in women
What is parody?
when ratio = 1
would indicate that men and women have the exact same death rate from a certain cause