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Health Disparities

Population-specific differences in access to quality health care, whether caused by gender, race, geography, environment, or other factors, can affect individual and community health. RAND research aims to understand the causes of—and thereby reduce disparities in—health outcomes, access, and care at the individual, community, and international levels.

Journal Article

The Association Between Discrimination and PTSD in African Americans: Exploring the Role of Gender

Discrimination may contribute to the disparate rates of PTSD experienced by African Americans in two lower-income Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

Apr 12, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Racial Residential Segregation, Socioeconomic Disparities, and the White-Black Survival Gap

Black-white disparities in survival remain wide despite public health efforts to improve life expectancy and initiatives to reduce health disparities.

Mar 28, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Moving Beyond Individual Choice in Policies to Reduce Health Inequalities: The Integration of Dynamic with Individual Explanations

We propose a list of questions that researchers and policy-makers can use when writing or critiquing policy in order to bring broader perspective to the forefront of their analysis of the problem.

Mar 20, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Great American Recession and Forgone Healthcare: Do Widened Disparities Between African-Americans and Whites Remain?

Since the end of the Great Recession, disparities in the likelihood of forgone care have increased from pre-recession levels between African-Americans and whites; this may be a result of issues related to access, cost, and quality.

Feb 13, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Cluster Analysis of Acute Care Use Yields Insights for Tailored Pediatric Asthma Interventions

Care patterns for pediatric asthma can help identify differences between types of patients - and possible ways to reduce avoidable hospitalizations.

Jan 31, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Ethnic Differences in Cigarette Use Trajectories and Health, Psychosocial, and Academic Outcomes

Cigarette smoking during adolescence appears to be more strongly associated withimpaired functioning across multiple domains for racial/ethnic minority youth in late adolescence compared with their white peers.

Jan 11, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Associations Between Parental SES and Children's Health-Related Quality of Life: The Role of Objective and Subjective Social Status

For children in 5th grade, objective measures of parents' social status were more strongly associated with health-related quality of life than subjective measures.

Dec 15, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Addressing Geographic Confounding Through Spatial Propensity Scores: A Study of Racial Disparities in Diabetes

A spatial "doubly robust" estimator can minimize geographically related risk difference among racial/ethnic groups in health disparities studies.

Dec 14, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Randomized Controlled Trial of a Coordinated Care Intervention to Improve Risk Factor Control After Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack in the Safety Net: Secondary Stroke Prevention by Uniting Community and Chronic Care Model Teams Early to End Disparities (SUCCEED)

A multi-disciplinary intervention using a Chronic Care Model framework to prevent a secondary stroke among underserved populations will be tested in a randomized controlled trial.

Dec 12, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Barriers to Gender Transition-Related Healthcare: Identifying Underserved Transgender Adults in Massachusetts

Age, income, education, insurance coverage, and healthcare discrimination were key factors associated with being unable to access transition-related care among transgender adults in Massachusetts.

Nov 30, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Unequal Interactions: Examining the Role of Patient-Centered Care in the Inequitable Diffusion of a Medical Innovation, the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine

This study found significant association between low ratings of providers' patient-centeredness and racial/ethnic disparities in providers' recommendations to vaccinate for HPV and likelihood of parents deciding to vaccinate.

Nov 2, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Disease Incidence and Mortality Among Older Americans and Europeans

Overall, the origin of the higher prevalence of health conditions in the United States results from a higher incidence of diseases and prevalence earlier in the life course.

Oct 4, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Receipt of Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccination Among Long-Stay Nursing Home Residents

Despite a 2005 CMS mandate that all nursing home residents be offered the influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations, racial/ethnic disparities persist.

Sep 15, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Health-Related Issues in Latina Youth: Racial/Ethnic, Gender, and Generational Status Differences

Most health disparities between Latina and white female youth disappear after taking into account sociodemographic differences.

Aug 25, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Did the Affordable Care Act's Dependent Coverage Expansion Affect Race/Ethnic Disparities in Health Insurance Coverage?

While the ACA's Dependent Coverage Expansion has increased insurance coverage, it has also widened race/ethnic disparities because it benefits only those young adults whose parents have private coverage.

Aug 1, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Health, Disability and Mortality Differences at Older Ages Between the US and England

Disease prevalence in the US is higher than in England but differences between the two countries in disability and mortality were much smaller.

Aug 1, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Medicare Advantage Associated With More Racial Disparity Than Traditional Medicare For Hospital Readmissions

Risk-reduction strategies adopted by Medicare Advantage plans to prevent hospital readmissions have not succeeded in lowering the markedly higher rates of readmission for black patients compared to white patients.

Jul 26, 2017
Journal Article

Depression Affects Teenage Girls More Often Than Boys

In the United States, 36.1 percent of girls experience depression by age 17, compared with 13.6 percent of boys. And the gender gap may start even earlier than previously thought.

Jul 14, 2017
Essay

Chronic Conditions in America: Price and Prevalence

Sixty percent of U.S. adults have at least one chronic condition, and 12 percent have five or more. They account for hundreds of billions of dollars in health care spending every year.

Jul 12, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

A School-Based Public Health Model to Reduce Oral Health Disparities

Broad-based school-community partnerships can help address the unmet oral health needs of low-income children.

Jun 8, 2017

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