An American Diabetes Association study highlights disparities in continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) access for children with type 1 diabetes, revealing delays for publicly insured and minority children. The research, presented at the 84th American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions, underscores the urgent need for more equitable access to diabetes technology in the United States. Principal investigator Dr. Mette K. Borbjerg (above) from the Steno Diabetes Center North Denmark and the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) emphasized the significance of timely CGM access: “Our results highlight the marked difference in HbA1c in children that receive…
Author: Disparity Matters
In a recent study, LDI Senior Fellow Nadir Yehya, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, highlighted the need for more diversity in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) studies. Yehya’s team examined consent rates in the PICU at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They found that multiple social and demographic factors led to lower rates of consent. However, when only those who were approached for research studies were considered, many of these disparities disappeared, although Black children remained less likely to participate. The study revealed that lower rates of approach, such as parents not…
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $15 million to establish two research centers focused on addressing health disparities in uterine fibroids, particularly among Black women. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, along with the NIH Office of Women’s Health Research, is funding this initiative to advance studies on uterine leiomyoma, commonly known as fibroids. Uterine fibroids, non-cancerous tumors that grow in or on the uterine wall, affect approximately 70% of White women and 80-90% of Black women in their lifetime. However, Black women face more severe symptoms and complications, including faster-growing and more…
New research reveals significant disparities in the timely initiation of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) among children with type 1 diabetes, potentially exacerbating racial and ethnic health inequalities. The study, presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 84th Scientific Sessions in Orlando, found that publicly insured children and those from historically marginalized racial or ethnic groups experienced delays in starting CGM compared to privately insured and White, non-Latinx children. Lead author Dr. Mette K Borbjerg from the University of California San Francisco reported that children who began CGM within six months of diagnosis had an average HbA1c of 7.5%, compared to 8.4% for…
Rural and reservation areas in South Dakota face significant challenges in providing adequate health care, with barriers to access and negative health outcomes prevalent, according to health care providers and administrators across the state. The patchwork nature of the rural and reservation health care system often requires compassion, innovation, and teamwork to keep people healthy. Chronic underfunding of Indian Health Services (IHS) and other government tribal health programs exacerbates these issues, particularly for Native American communities. Sara DeCoteau, who runs the health program for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe, highlighted staff recruitment and retention as a major issue. “For years and…
Black patients are more likely to experience adverse cardiovascular outcomes after systemic androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer, according to a retrospective cohort study involving 3,543 prostate cancer patients treated with the therapy between 2008 and 2021. The researchers found that the risk for these adverse events was 38 percent increased in Blacks, with the strongest associations seen for incident heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral artery disease. Overall, 98 percent of the disparity in adverse event risk between Black and White patients was mediated by the social vulnerability index, specifically the socioeconomic status theme. “Multilevel targeted interventions tailored to the…
California health policy officials plan to leverage emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology to translate a wide range of documents and websites related to health and social services. According to state records, this initiative aims to make critical health care forms, applications, and information available to more people in the nation’s most linguistically diverse state. The project will begin by translating written material, with human editors overseeing and editing the translations. If successful, the technology may be applied more broadly, transforming not only documents but also websites and call center interactions. However, some translators and scholars express concerns about the limitations…
Helping youth and underserved communities develop swimming skills and water safety awareness
Black Americans have experienced an excessive rate of cardiovascular deaths compared with White Americans over the past two decades despite overall improvements in care, according to new data. The disparities are present across the spectrum of heart disease, from ischemic heart disease to hypertension as well as cerebrovascular disease and heart failure. “Our study reveals that Black Americans, because of their higher cardiovascular mortality rates compared with white Americans, have suffered almost 800,000 excess deaths, which translates to about 24 million additional years of life lost between 2000 and 2022,” said researcher Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, of Yale New Haven Hospital.…
Developing new generation of Native American health leaders