Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Latino Health Status
(John Wiley and Sons, 2001) Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Zambrana, Ruth Enid
Health status data for Latinos have become increasingly available, and significant progress has been made in data collection methods over the past decade. This chapter provides an overview of national data on morbidity and mortality among Latin populations in comparison with such data on African Americans and Whites. The writing f this book takes place at the outset of a major shift in national health policy. Launched in January 2000 (see United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2000),, the national disease prevention and health promotion agenda for the year 2010 have an overarching goal of eliminating disparities.
Race/ethnicity, social class and their relation to physical inactivity during leisure time: results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994
(2000) Crespo, Carlos J; Smit, Ellen; Andersen, Ross E; Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Ainsworth, Barbara E
Background: Physical inactivity is more prevalent among racial and ethnic minorities than among Caucasians. It is not known if differences in participation in leisure time physical activity are due to differences in social class. Thus, this paper provides estimates of the prevalence of physical inactivity during leisure time and its relationship to race/ethnicity and social class. Methods: This was a national representative cross-sectional survey with an in-person interview and medical examination. Between 1988 and 1994, 18,885 adults aged 20 or older responded to the household adult and family questionnaires as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey . Mexican-Americans and African-Americans were over-sampled to produce reliable estimates for these groups. Multiple assessment of social class included education, family income, occupation, poverty status, employment status, and marital status. Results: The age-adjusted prevalence (per 100) of adults reporting leisure time inactivity is lower among Caucasians (18%) than among African-Americans (35%) and Mexican-Americans (40%). African-American and Mexican-American men and women reported higher prevalence of leisure time inactivity than their Caucasian counterparts across almost every variable, including education, family income, occupation, employment, poverty and marital status. Conclusions: Current indicators of social class do not seem to explain the higher prevalence of physical inactivity during leisure time among African-American and Mexican-American. More research is needed to examine the effect of other constructs of social class such as acculturation, safety, social support and environmental barriers in promoting successful interventions to increase physical activity in these populations.
What is a "health disparity"?
(2002) Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Baquet, Claudia
With the launch of Healthy People 2010 in January 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) committed the nation to an overarching goal, to “eliminate health disparities.” Like the preceding Healthy People 2000 initiative, Healthy People 2010 outlines a comprehensive disease prevention and health promotion agenda. Although this goal has met with considerable support throughout the nation, upon further examination, it is clear that the term “health disparity” has been used with a number of very different meanings. Since the scope of the eliminating disparities goal for the DHHS Imitative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health is narrower than that of Healthy People 2010, discussion of the two goals in the same context can lead to confusion.

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