Vulnerable communities in the U.S. are disproportionately impacted by high urban flood risk and lack of access to shelters, reveals a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. The research, led by a team from the University of California, Berkeley, underscores the urgent need to identify and support at-risk populations.The study’s findings highlight the stark disparities in flood risk and shelter access among different racial and ethnic groups, with Black and Hispanic communities being particularly affected. The researchers used a combination of flood risk data, shelter locations, and demographic information to map out the areas of greatest concern.The study’s results…
Author: Disparity Matters
Anchorage, Alaska, and Queens County, New York, were identified as the most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the United States in 2020, according to a recent Census Bureau analysis. The study used a diversity index, which measures the chance that two randomly selected individuals belong to different racial or ethnic groups. The U.S. population had a diversity index of 61.1% in 2020, indicating a 61.1% probability that two randomly chosen people would be from different racial or ethnic groups.The Census Bureau’s interactive tool and supplemental tables revealed that the top four most diverse census tracts were in Anchorage, while…
The National Center for Health Statistics’ 2022 data reveals persistent racial and geographic disparities in US birth outcomes, despite policy efforts to address these inequities. The data, reflecting the aftermath of the first three COVID-19 waves, shows that maternal and infant mortality rates remain highest among Black individuals, approximately 2.5 times higher than non-Hispanic Whites. Black individuals were also 18% more likely to give birth by cesarean in 2022.The data also highlights stark differences across states. For instance, Arkansas and Wisconsin reported the highest infant mortality rates for non-Hispanic White and Black infants respectively, more than double the rates in…
A large-scale study from Northern California’s health care system reveals significant racial and ethnic disparities in psychotic disorder diagnoses, with implications for mental and physical health outcomes. The retrospective chart review, which included nearly 6 million patient records, found that certain groups face a higher risk of developing psychotic disorders, leading to poorer health and increased mortality.The research, conducted by a team at a prominent Northern California health care institution, examined demographic characteristics and medical diagnoses, uncovering a disproportionate impact on specific racial and ethnic populations. These findings point to the need for tailored care and prevention strategies to address…
Increasing climate change events have placed insurmountable challenges on farmworkers and the exposure and risks due to climate change are not distributed equally, impacting farmworkers more than other populations. Through their own voices and digital stories, seven farmworkers in Ventura County, CA documented the health challenges they experience as a result of working in the fields during climate events.These powerful and heartfelt stories bear testament to the daily reality that often goes unseen by society and document the growing and urgent need to advance health equity and climate justice. They also help to ensure that indigenous populations are included in…
Every day, more than 20 million kids ride to school on the 450,000 or so buses that wind through cities and towns across the country. More than 90 percent of those vehicles run on diesel fuel, which emits harmful pollutants like fine particulates, ozone-forming substances like nitrogen oxide, and cancer-causing chemicals like benzene. Diesel pollutants burrow into the lungs, causing inflammation, asthma, and a host of other respiratory illnesses. Children are especially impacted because their respiratory systems are still developing, said Anne Kelsey Lamb, director of the Regional Asthma Management and Prevention Program at the Public Health Institute. Kids also…
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a decrease in asthma attacks and emergency department (ED) visits among Black adults and children in the United States, narrowing long-standing racial disparities. Asthma prevalence rose from 8% to 8.7% between 2019 and 2022, but asthma attacks among Black adults fell from 29.3% to 22.1%. Overall ED visit rates also dropped from 17.3% to 12.1%. These findings were published in a letter in the Annals of Internal Medicine by Adam Gaffney, MD, MPH, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, and his team. The researchers suggest that these decreased disparities during the pandemic…
Across the United States, falls are the leading cause of injury and injury death for adults ages 65 and older, affecting millions annually. The latest CDC report shows notable disparities by race and ethnicity. Nonfatal and fatal fall rates are highest for non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native seniors, while Asian and Black older adults report significantly lower percentages. Nationally, 27.6% of older adults had at least one fall in 2020 and 78 per 100,000 died in 2021, but among Whites and American Indians/Alaska Natives, rates reached 28.8% and 35.6% (reporting falls), and 89.4 and 57.3 per…
Older Americans are suffering from falls at more than double the rate than just two decades ago, with race and ethnicity shaping who is most at risk. In 2020, over 36,500 Americans age 65 and older died from fall-related injuries—a dramatic jump from 10,100 deaths in 1999. When adjusted for age, the fatal fall rate rose from 29 per 100,000 seniors in 1999, to 69 per 100,000 in 2020. No demographic is unaffected by the upward trend, and the new study led by Alexis Santos-Lozada, assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University, shows that fall-related death rates more than doubled among…
Arline Geronimus developed the “weathering” theory, showing chronic racism caused early health decline, especially in Black mothers and infants