2007 Health Disparities Report to the Michigan Legislature

Abstract

Health disparities are differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, burden of disease and other adverse health conditions or outcomes that exist among specific population groups in the United States. In Michigan, as in the United States, racial and ethnic minority populations carry a disproportionately heavy burden due to health disparities. This burden is manifested in increased risk for disease, delayed diagnosis, inaccessible and inadequate care, poor health outcomes and untimely death, much of which are preventable.