A new study reveals that Black communities in California experience significantly longer ambulance patient offload times (APOT), a critical but often overlooked measure of emergency care access. Researchers analyzed nearly 6 million ambulance offloads across 34 emergency medical service (EMS) agencies from 2021 to 2023 and found that the proportion of Black residents in a community was the strongest predictor of delayed offloads.A 3.3% increase in the proportion of Black residents—from the 25th to the 75th percentile—was associated with an 11.8-minute longer APOT, even after adjusting for socioeconomic and EMS system factors. This delay means patients wait longer for emergency…
Author: Disparity Matters
Fewer than 3% of eligible Americans with obesity are prescribed GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide or tirzepatide, despite their proven benefits. A new analysis of 39 million adults without type 2 diabetes reveals stark disparities in who receives these medications—disparities that fall sharply along racial, socioeconomic, and geographic lines.Non-Hispanic white patients were the most likely to be prescribed a GLP-1 drug at 2.4%, while non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Asian patients had lower rates at 2.3%, 1.8%, and 1.7%, respectively. People living in the most socially vulnerable areas—those facing poverty, poor housing, and limited healthcare access—were also less likely to…
A new study reveals that nearly one in ten asthma cases could be prevented by improving urban environments—an insight with serious implications for minority communities disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, as part of a major European collaboration, analyzed data from nearly 350,000 people across seven countries. They found that a combination of air pollution, dense urban development, and limited green spaces significantly increases the risk of asthma in both children and adults. These environmental stressors often overlap in low-income and minority neighborhoods, exacerbating existing health disparities. “Previous studies have typically calculated the risk of one environmental…
A new study from UCLA reveals that access to lecanemab, a costly infusion therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, is heavily skewed toward white, urban, affluent men—raising serious concerns about equity in dementia care. Researchers found that among 1,725 Medicare beneficiaries who received the drug between July 2023 and March 2024, 90.5% were white, 88.0% lived in urban areas, and 98.7% were not socioeconomically disadvantaged.The disparities were stark. Uptake was six times higher among white patients compared to Black patients, and 24 times higher among those with higher socioeconomic status. “This drug is contributing to increased Medicare spending for everyone, while only…
Children who experience food insecurity are more likely to face serious cardiovascular health challenges as young adults, according to a new study that underscores the long-term impact of early-life deprivation. The research, which followed over 1,000 children from birth into their twenties, found that early childhood food insecurity was linked to higher body mass index (BMI) and worse overall cardiovascular health.The study revealed that 39% of participants lived in food-insecure households during early childhood, and 44% participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Among those who experienced food insecurity, the majority were from non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic communities—groups already…
A new study reveals that racial and ethnic disparities continue to shape access to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a highly effective treatment for severe depression. Despite adjustments for demographic factors, non-White patients were significantly less likely to receive ECT compared to their White counterparts. Researchers analyzed data from over 19,000 patients diagnosed with severe unipolar depression across 162 U.S. healthcare facilities between 2016 and 2021. The findings were stark: 3% of White patients received ECT, compared to just 1% of non-White patients. The odds of receiving ECT were more than three times higher for White patients than for all other racial…
Puerto Rico reports the highest rates of poor physical health among all U.S. states and territories, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open. The study, led by Anna-Michelle McSorley of the University of Connecticut, used data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, one of the few federal datasets that includes U.S. territories.McSorley found that 27.8% of Puerto Ricans reported fair or poor general health, compared to 16.1% in the 50 states. Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands also reported higher rates at 17.7% and 18.6%, respectively. “From the data that I saw, it was pretty remarkable to…
As summer begins and pools reopen across the country, Black communities face a heightened risk of drowning—just as federal support for prevention is being dismantled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has nearly shuttered its Injury Prevention Center, a team that tracked drowning deaths and supported local safety efforts. The cuts come amid a broader downsizing of government under President Donald Trump.The impact is stark. Black adolescents are three times more likely to drown than their white peers. In swimming pools, Black children ages 10 to 14 drown at 7.6 times the rate of white children. Only 37% of…
A new report highlights how race, language, and insurance status continue to shape who ends up in California hospitals for conditions that could have been avoided with timely care. More than 175,000 Californians were hospitalized in 2022 for preventable illnesses like asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure—conditions that often signal deeper systemic failures in access to primary care.Black Californians were hospitalized at significantly higher rates than white residents. Nearly 14% of Black Californians were admitted for preventable conditions, compared to just under 9% of white Californians. In San Diego County, that translates to more than one in eight Black residents.…
A new study using artificial intelligence has uncovered troubling disparities in how hospital staff document labor and delivery experiences—disparities that disproportionately affect Black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander (API) patients.Researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing analyzed over 18,000 clinical notes from two major hospitals using natural language processing. They found that Black patients were 22% more likely than white patients to have stigmatizing language in their records. This included being labeled “difficult,” having their credibility questioned, or being described in ways that reflected bias toward their identity. In fact, 33% of Black patients were described as “difficult,” compared to 28.6%…