Health Disparities in the United States

Lauren RackleyNovember 30, 2016

INLS 770

Definitions• Social position – “relative

advantage and disadvantage in social hierarchies” (Penman-Aguilar et al, 2015)

Social determinants of health

So what is a health disparity then? • “differences in health outcomes and their determinants between

segments of the population, as defined by social, demographic, environmental, and geographic attributes” (Penman-Aguilar et al, 2015)• “differences between groups in health care coverage, access to care,

and quality of care, typically viewed through the lens of race and ethnicity” (Powell, 2016)

What is the dose-response relationship? • Means that the relationship between social advantage and health is

incremental

People with the least education and lowest income had the most adverse levels of health (Braveman et al, 2010)

Minorities receive a lower quality of health care than non-minorities (Powell, 2016)

People living in poor communities have a higher prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke (Powell, 2016)

To fix the problem, we must first eliminate/reduce the cause (Powell, 2016)

Where do we go from here?

Conclusion• Achieving health equity is a monumental challenge and there is still

much work to be done!

References1. Adler, N. E., Glymour, M. M., & Fielding, J. (2016). Addressing Social Determinants of

Health and Health Inequalities. Jama, 316(16), 1641. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.140582. Braveman, P. A., Cubbin, C., Egerter, S., Williams, D. R., & Pamuk, E. (2010).

Socioeconomic Disparities in Health in the United States: What the Patterns Tell Us. American Journal of Public Health, 100(S1). doi:10.2105/ajph.2009.166082

3. Marmot, M. G., & Bell, R. (2009). Action on Health Disparities in the United States. Jama, 301(11), 1169. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.363

4. Penman-Aguilar, A., Talih, M., Huang, D., Moonesinghe, R., Bouye, K., & Beckles, G. (2016). Measurement of Health Disparities, Health Inequities, and Social Determinants of Health to Support the Advancement of Health Equity. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 22. doi:10.1097/phh.0000000000000373

5. Powell, D. L. (2016). Social Determinants of Health: Cultural Competence is Not Enough. Creat Nurs Creative Nursing, 22(1), 5-10. doi:10.1891/1078-4535.22.1.5