Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    The inverse hazard law: Blood pressure, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, workplace abuse and occupational exposures in US low-income black, white and Latino workers
    (2008) Krieger, Nancy; Chen, Jarvis T.; Waterman, Pamela D.; Hartman, Cathy; Stoddard, Anne M.; Quinn, Margaret M.; Sorensen, Glorian; Barbeau, Elizabeth M.
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    Experiences of discrimination: Validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and health
    (2005) Krieger, Nancy; Smith, Kevin; Naishadham, Deepa; Hartman, Cathy; Barbeau, Elizabeth M.
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    Does racism harm health? Did child abuse exist before 1962? On explicit questions, critical science, and current controversies: an ecosocial perspective.
    (2003) Krieger, Nancy
    Research on racism as a harmful determinant of population health is in its infancy. Explicitly naming a long-standing problem long recognized by those affected, this work has the potential to galvanize inquiry and action, much as the 1962 publication of the Kempe et al. scientific article on the "battered child syndrome" dramatically increased attention to-and prompted new research on-the myriad consequences of child abuse, a known yet neglected social phenomenon. To further work on connections between racism and health, the author addresses 3 interrelated issues: (1) links between racism, biology, and health; (2) methodological controversies over how to study the impact of racism on health; and (3) debates over whether racism or class underlies racial/ethnic disparities in health.
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    Epi + demos + cracy: linking political systems and priorities to the magnitude of health inequities--evidence, gaps, and a research agenda.
    (2009) Beckfield, Jason; Krieger, Nancy
    A new focus within both social epidemiology and political sociology investigates how political systems and priorities shape health inequities. To advance-and better integrate-research on political determinants of health inequities, the authors conducted a systematic search of the ISI Web of Knowledge and PubMed databases and identified 45 studies, commencing in 1992, that explicitly and empirically tested, in relation to an a priori political hypothesis, for either 1) changes in the magnitude of health inequities or 2) significant cross-national differences in the magnitude of health inequities. Overall, 84% of the studies focused on the global North, and all clustered around 4 political factors: 1) the transition to a capitalist economy; 2) neoliberal restructuring; 3) welfare states; and 4) political incorporation of subordinated racial/ethnic, indigenous, and gender groups. The evidence suggested that the first 2 factors probably increase health inequities, the third is inconsistently related, and the fourth helps reduce them. In this review, the authors critically summarize these studies' findings, consider methodological limitations, and propose a research agenda-with careful attention to spatiotemporal scale, level, time frame (e.g., life course, historical generation), choice of health outcomes, inclusion of polities, and specification of political mechanisms-to address the enormous gaps in knowledge that were identified.
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    Self-Reported Experiences of Racial Discrimination and Black–White Differences in Preterm and Low-Birthweight Deliveries: The CARDIA Study
    (2004) Mustillo, Sarah; Krieger, Nancy; Gunderson, Erica P.; Sidney, Stephen; McCreath, Heather; Kiefe, Catarina I.
    Objectives. We examined the effects of self-reported experiences of racial discrimination on Black–White differences in preterm (less than 37 weeks gestation) and low-birthweight (less than 2500 g) deliveries. Methods. Using logistic regression models, we analyzed data on 352 births among women enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. Results. Among Black women, 50% of those with preterm deliveries and 61% of those with low-birthweight infants reported having experienced racial discrimination in at least 3 situations; among White women, the corresponding percentages were 5% and 0%. The unadjusted odds ratio for preterm delivery among Black versus White women was 2.54 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.33, 4.85), but this value decreased to 1.88 (95% CI=0.85, 4.12) after adjustment for experiences of racial discrimination and to 1.11 (95% CI=0.51, 2.41) after additional adjustment for alcohol and tobacco use, depression, education, and income. The corresponding odds ratios for low birthweight were 4.24 (95% CI=1.31, 13.67), 2.11 (95% CI=0.75, 5.93), and 2.43 (95% CI=0.79, 7.42). Conclusions. Self-reported experiences of racial discrimination were associated with preterm and low-birthweight deliveries, and such experiences may contribute to Black White disparities in perinatal outcomes.
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    Changing to the 2000 Standard Million: Are Declining Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health Real Progress or Statistical Illusion?
    (2001) Krieger, Nancy; Williams, David R.
    Objectives. This study determined the effects of changing from the 1940 to the 2000 standard million on monitoring socioeconomic and racial/ethnic inequalities in health. Methods. Using the 1940, 1970, and 2000 standard million, we calculated and compared ageadjusted rates for selected health outcomes stratified by socioeconomic level. Results. Changing from the 1940 to the 2000 standard million markedly reduced the age-adjusted relative risks for self-reported fair or poor health status of poor Americans compared with high-income Americans. Conclusions. Public health researchers and practitioners should give serious consideration to the implications of the change to the 2000 standard million for monitoring social inequalities in health.
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    Painting a Truer Picture of US Socioeconomic and Racial/Ethnic Health Inequalities: The Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project
    (2005) Krieger, Nancy; Chen, Jarvis T.; Waterman, Pamela D.; Rehkopf, David H.; Subramanian, S.V.
    Objectives. We describe a method to facilitate routine monitoring of socioeconomic health disparities in the United States. Methods. We analyzed geocoded public health surveillance data including events from birth to death (c. 1990) linked to 1990 census tract (CT) poverty data for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Results. For virtually all outcomes, risk increased with CT poverty, and when we adjusted for CT poverty racial/ethnic disparities were substantially reduced. For half the outcomes, more than 50% of cases would not have occurred if population rates equaled those of persons in the least impoverished CTs. In the early 1990s, persons in the least impoverished CT were the only group meeting Healthy People 2000 objectives a decade ahead. Conclusions. Geocoding and use of the CT poverty measure permit routine monitoring of US socioeconomic inequalities in health, using a common and accessible metric.
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    Racial Disparities in Context: A Multilevel Analysis of Neighborhood Variations in Poverty and Excess Mortality Among Black Populations in Massachusetts
    (2005) Subramanian, S.V.; Chen, Jarvis T.; Rehkopf, David H.; Waterman, Pamela D.; Krieger, Nancy
    Objectives. We analyzed neighborhood heterogeneity in associations among mortality, race/ethnicity, and area poverty. Methods. We performed a multilevel statistical analysis of Massachusetts allcause mortality data for the period 1989 through 1991 (n=142836 deaths), modeled as 79813 cells (deaths and denominators cross-tabulated by age, gender, and race/ethnicity) at level 1 nested within 5532 block groups at level 2 within 1307 census tracts (CTs) at level 3. We also characterized CTs by percentage of the population living below poverty level. Results. Neighborhood variation in mortality across CTs and block groups was not accounted for by these areas’ age, gender, and racial/ethnic composition. Neighborhood variation in mortality was much greater for the Black population than for the White population, largely because of CT-level variation in poverty rates. Conclusions. Neighborhood heterogeneity in the relationship between mortality and race/ethnicity in Massachusetts is statistically significant and is closely related to CT-level variation in poverty.
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    Mapping a Course for Community Action and Research to Eliminate Disparities Embodying Racial Inequality: Race, Class, Gender and Health Assessing the Impact of Discrimination, an Ecosocial Perspective
    (2001) Krieger, Nancy
    MP3 audio files recorded by the Pennsylvania and Ohio Public Health Training Center at the First Annual Minority Health Leadership Summit
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    Historical Roots of Social Epidemiology:Socioeconomic gradients in health and contextual analysis
    (2001) Krieger, Nancy
    http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/154/4/299