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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Item Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Exercise and Dietary Behaviors of Middle-Aged and Older Adults(2011) August, Kristin J.; Sorkin, Dara H.Abstract available at publisher's web site.Item Health Promotion in Latinos(2010) Pekmezi, D.; Marquez, B.; Marcus-Blank, J.Abstract available at publisher's web site.Item Putting Promotion Into Practice: The African Americans Building a Legacy of Health Organizational Wellness Program(2006) Yancey, A. K.Abstract available at publisher's web site.Item Health Behaviors and Racial Disparity in Blood Pressure Control in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(2011) Redmond, N.; Baer, H. J.; Hicks, L. S.Minorities have a higher prevalence of hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which contributes to racial/ethnic disparities in morbidity and mortality in the United States. Many modifiable health behaviors have been associated with improved blood pressure control, but it is unclear how racial/ethnic differences in these behaviors are related to the observed disparities in blood pressure control. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted among 21 489 US adults aged >20 years participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2001 to 2006. Secondary analyses were conducted among those with a self-reported diagnosis of hypertension. Blood pressure control was defined as systolic values <140 mm Hg and diastolic values <90 mm Hg (or <130 mm Hg and <80 mm Hg among diabetics, respectively). In primary analyses, non-Hispanic blacks had 90% higher odds of poorly controlled blood pressure compared with non-Hispanic whites after adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics (P<0.001). In secondary analyses among hypertensive subjects, non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican Americans had 40% higher odds of uncontrolled blood pressure compared with non-Hispanic whites after adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics (P<0.001). For both analyses, the racial/ethnic differences in blood pressure control persisted even after further adjustment for modifiable health behaviors, which included medication adherence in secondary analyses (P<0.001 for both analyses). Although population-level adoption of healthy behaviors may contribute to reduction of the societal burden of cardiovascular disease in general, these findings suggest that racial/ethnic differences in some health behaviors do not explain the disparities in hypertension prevalence and control. (Item Disparities in physical activity and sedentary behaviors among US children and adolescents: prevalence, correlates, and intervention implications.(2009) Whitt-Glover, Melicia C; Taylor, Wendell C; Floyd, Myron F; Yore, Michelle M; Yancey, Antronette K; Matthews, Charles ERegular physical activity is important for health benefits among youth, but disparities exist. This paper describes disparities in physical activity participation and sedentary behaviors among youth in the United States, provides intervention implications, and offers recommendations for future research focused on reducing disparities related to levels of physical activity. Secondary analysis of national accelerometer data showed that achievement of recommended levels of physical activity ranged across subgroups from 2% to 61%. Mean hours per day spent in sedentary behavior ranged from 5.5 to 8.5. The largest disparities were by gender and age. An improved understanding of correlates may inform the design of interventions to increase physical activity in targeted subgroups. Additional theoretically based research is needed to elucidate which factors contributing to physical activity disparities are amenable to change via intervention. To eliminate health disparities, changes in policies that have an impact on physical activity may be necessary to promote physical activity among high-risk youth.Item Interventions to Promote Physical Activity Among African Americans(2009) Pekmezi, D.; Jennings, E.This article provides a summary of recent physical activity intervention research conducted among African Americans. As prior reviews have been published in this area, the authors updated the literature by focusing on the past 8 years. Overall, there has been an increase in the number and methodological rigor of the studies in this area. Thirty studies published in peer-reviewed journals were included in the current review. Results from 18 of these studies indicated that interventions produced significant increases in activity behavior among African American participants. Recent improvements in this research include larger sample sizes, more randomized controlled trials, and increased use of reliable and valid self-report measures, objective assessment tools, and theoretical backgrounds for interventions. However, attrition and long-term exercise adherence remain problematic in this area of research.Item 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 EBackground: 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.Item Tales From the Scales: Thomas's Promises(2008) Barlow, Kimberly K.“I don’t suspect we lost much,” said Thomas’s Promises team captain Mario Browne of the Center for Minority Health as he anticipated this week’s midpoint weigh-in. The CMH team rose from an initial rank of 185th in the first week of the competition to 152nd after week 4. Their strategy for tipping the scales even more in their favor: Regardless of the weather, no heavy corduroys or sweaters are allowed at the weigh-in, Browne joked. Competition really isn’t high on their list of incentives, he said. “We’re not so much interested in the race; we’re more interested in the social support and the motivation to do something,” he said.Item Obesity: The Science Inside(The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2006) UNSPECIFIEDWho wants to read anything else about how fat we are? It seems like you can’t turn on the TV without someone on the news talking about how much we weigh, how much we ought to weigh, and how weighing too much is bad, bad, bad. It’s almost enough to make you dig into that half gallon of ice cream you have in the freezer. It’s true that many of us do weigh more than we ought to and that weighing too much is related to certain health risks. That’s just a fact of life, related to science. Our bodies need a certain amount of food to stay alive and work properly, and extra food can make us gain weight. Obesity, or being too heavy for your height, is a serious subject. It’s one of the worst chronic illnesses we now face. Today only one third of Americans weigh a healthy amount. Two thirds of Americans are overweight, meaning they weigh more than they should and are at risk for health problems, including obesity.Item Physical Exercise and Reduced Risk of Breast Cancer in Young Women(1994) Bernstein, Leslie; Henderson, Brian E.; Hanisch, Rosemarie; Sullivan-Halley, Jane; Ross, Ronald K.Background: Epidemiologic evidence strongly suggests that cumulative exposure to ovarian hormones is a determinant of breast cancer risk. Because physical activity can modify menstrual cycle patterns and alter the production of ovarian hormones, it may reduce breast cancer risk; yet few epidemiologic studies have assessed this relationship. Purpose: The major objective of this study was to determine whether young women (aged 40 and younger) who regularly participated in physical exercise activities during their reproductive years had a reduced risk of breast cancer. Methods: Using a case-control design, we conducted personal interviews of a total of 545 women (aged 40 and younger at diagnosis) who had been newly diagnosed with in situ or invasive breast cancer between July 1, 1983, and January 1, 1989, and a total of 545 control subjects. Case patients and control subjects were individually matched on date of birth (within 36 months), race (white), parity (nulliparous versus parous), and neighborhood of residence. Lifetime histories of participation in physical exercise activities on a regular basis were obtained during the personal interview. Results: After adjustment for potential confounding factors, we found that the average number of hours spent in physical exercise activities per week from menarche to 1 year prior to the case patient's diagnosis was a significant predictor of reduced breast cancer risk (two-sided P for trend < .0001). The odds ratio (OR) of breast cancer among women who, on average, spent 3.8 or more hours per week participating in physical exercise activities was 0.42 (95% confidence limits [CLs] = 0.27, 0.64) relative to inactive women. The effect was stronger among women who had had a full-term pregnancy. Comparing most active (>/= 3.8 hours/wk of exercise) women to inactive women, the ORs were 0.28 (95% CL = 0.16, 0.50) for parous and 0.73 (95% CL = 0.38, 1.41) for nulliparous women. Conclusions: Most previously identified risk factors for breast cancer are reproductive and menstrual events that cannot be readily altered. The protective effect of exercise on breast cancer risk in the women whom we studied suggests that physical activity offers one modifiable lifestyle characteristic that may substantially reduce a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer. Implications: Whether the protective effects of exercise on breast cancer risk are due to alterations in ovarian function and whether they extend into women's menopausal years need to be established. Our results suggest that implementation of regular physical exercise programs as a critical component of a healthy lifestyle should be a high priority for adolescent and adult women.