Category Archives: African American

Obesity and Undiagnosed Diabetes

Posted on September 20, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

Research reported in Diabetes Care highlights that while obese individuals may have a higher risk factors for diabetes, diagnosis is often missed.

5,514 adult participated in the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Particpants were interviewed about sociodemographic and medical data, including whether they had been diagnosed with diabetes, and were examined for height, weight, and fasting plasma glucose.

RESULTS—Of the 9.8% participants who had diabetes, 28.1% were undiagnosed, translating to an estimated 5.2 million people in the U.S. population. Obese adults comprise more than half of the undiagnosed diabetes cases (2.7 million).

CONCLUSIONS—Despite a higher underlying risk of diabetes and widespread clinical recognition of this higher risk, obesity does not increase the likelihood that an individual’s diabetes will be diagnosed.

Posted in African American, diabetes, minorities

Tagged , , ,

African American Women at Increased Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

Posted on August 10, 2008 by continuum wellness| 1 Comment

Type 2 diabetes is increasing as a health problem among African American women. in a follow up of a study began in 1995 59,000 African American women reported on their consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and the study shows that the beverages are a huge risk factor.

The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus was higher with higher intake of both sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks.

Conclusions Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in African American women. While there has been increasing public awareness of the adverse health effects of soft drinks, little attention has been given to fruit drinks, which are often marketed as a healthier alternative to soft drinks.

(article)

Posted in African American, diabetes, health care, healthy eating, women, women's health

Tagged , , ,

Alcohol and malt liquor availability and promotion higher in African American inner cities

Posted on April 3, 2008 by continuum wellness| 1 Comment

Study begs questions of inner city health

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (April 2, 2008) – It appears that living in a poor neighborhood with a high concentration of African Americans is associated with greater alcohol availability and promotion – especially malt liquor – according to a recent study by University of Minnesota researchers.

The study found that poor neighborhoods with high concentrations of African Americans had higher homicide rates and significantly greater numbers of off-premise alcohol outlets, 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor in coolers, and storefront ads promoting malt liquor than other neighborhoods. Researchers also found that the average price of a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor was $1.87, or less than a gallon of milk.

Malt liquor is a concern in inner cities because of its cheap price, high alcohol content, association with heavier drinking, and its link to aggressive behavior that can result in public safety issues, said Rhonda Jones-Webb, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Public Health and principal investigator of the study. The cheap price of malt liquor also makes it especially available to inner-city youth, she added.

The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Substance Use and Misuse.

“We wanted to know the extent to which the alcohol environment in African American neighborhoods — high concentration of alcohol outlets and high availability and promotion of malt liquor – contributes to high homicide rates in those communities,” Jones-Webb said.

Among non-Hispanic males 15 years and older in the United States in 2003, African American males were 12 times more likely than Caucasian males to be victims of homicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study targeted low-income neighborhoods in 10 cities (Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Ana, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri) across the country in 2003. Each city had also been selected to receive federal grants from the government for economic development activities.

Researchers then collected information on homicides in the neighborhoods, compiled information on alcohol licenses, and linked them with the addresses of homicides. Observations were also conducted of the availability and promotion of alcohol and malt liquor in off-premise alcohol outlets in the neighborhoods.

“We need to ask ourselves why high alcohol content beverages, such as malt liquor, are more readily available and highly promoted in poor and minority neighborhoods, and how we can mobilize communities to implement effective policies to restrict their sale and promotion,” Jones-Webb said.

###

The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Posted in African American, Health, life, minorities, poverty, teens

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Those Most At Risk, Referred Less for Colonoscopies

Posted on March 26, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

This is not surprising based on the research that demonstrated that if you do not have insurance, you are not tested for certain serious conditions until it may be too late. I posted the article earlier, click here to read it.

(HealthDay News) — Even when there is a family history of colon cancer, blacks are much less likely to get colonoscopies than their white counterparts are, a new study finds.

While blacks who have an increased chance of developing colon cancer continue to lag behind their white counterparts in colonoscopy rates, the lack of a doctor referral stood out as the primary reason why high-risk patients of either race had not been screened.

For people who have close relatives that have been diagnosed with colon cancer, the recommended screening is a colonoscopy every five years after the age of 40.

“People with a family history of colon cancer have a two to four times increased risk of developing the disease compared with people who don’t have such a history,” explained lead researcher Dr. Harvey J. Murff, an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

“When you look at people who have more than one close relative diagnosed with colon cancer, African-Americans were about half as likely to have reported undergoing the appropriately recommended screening as compared to whites,” Murff said.

The reasons for this disparity aren’t clear, Murff said. It could be that doctors don’t perceive blacks as having an increased risk for colon cancer, he speculated. It may also be that doctors are remiss in collecting a complete family medical history, he said.

“If providers aren’t aware of family history, they may be less likely to recommend the test,” Murff said. “There is a problem collecting family history and using it to risk-assess patients.”

Other conditions that limit access to care, such as not having health insurance or a usual care provider, may also play a role, Murff said.

The report was published in the March 24 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In the study, Murff’s group collected data on 41,830 people aged 40 to 79. Among these, 32,265 were black and 9,565 were white. The researchers specifically looked at how these patients were screened for colon cancer.

There were 538 blacks who reported having close relatives diagnosed with colon cancer, compared with 255 whites. Among blacks, 27.3 percent reported having a colonoscopy within the past five years, compared with 43.1 percent of whites.

The main reason for not having a colonoscopy among both blacks and whites was that their doctor had not recommended one. Among blacks, 59.3 percent said their doctor had not recommended a colonoscopy, compared with 51 percent of whites.

Doctors need to be sure that they get a complete family medical history, Murff said. “In addition, it is important for patients to know what your family history is, and if you have questions related to your family history or if you are concerned that it might impact your risk of disease, it is important to talk to your physician about it,” he said.

Tips: Make sure you know possible signs, click here for more information.

Posted in African American, cancer, colon cancer, culture, Health, health care, insurance, minorities, money, poverty, Uncategorized

Fibroids more severe for African-American women

Posted on March 19, 2008 by continuum wellness| Leave a comment

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Among women with uterine fibroids, African Americans tend to be younger and more severely affected than white women, researchers report.

“There are underlying genetic liabilities in some women to develop uterine fibroids, and this finding is reinforced by our study identifying race as a risk factor for symptom severity and age at diagnosis,” Dr. Cynthia C. Morton told Reuters Health.

Morton, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and her colleagues examined data on women with fibroids who had at least one sister who also had the condition.

Compared with white participants, the investigators report in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, African-American women were significantly younger at diagnosis, had fewer days between periods, and more severe menstrual pain.

The team is currently scanning DNA samples from about 375 affected sister-pairs and their family members to try to identify genes linked to a predisposition to develop fibroids. “We will be looking at all of the environmental variables,” Morton explained, to look for factors that increase or decrease any genetic predisposition.

“Due to the health disparity of uterine fibroids for black women, it is especially critical to the success of our research to have them participate” in research, Morton emphasized.

“Participation involves completion of a questionnaire survey and providing a blood or saliva sample, as outlined on our Web site (www.fibroids.net) concerning the ‘Finding Genes for Fibroids’ study,” she added.

SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, February 2008.

Posted in African American, fibroids, Health, women

Having a Heart Attack? Ethnicity Matters?

Posted on March 18, 2008 by continuum wellness| 1 Comment

White men who arrive in emergency rooms complaining of chest pains get treatments for heart trouble faster than African-Americans or women do, a new U.S. government study finds.

Researchers looked at more than 19 million emergency room visits and found that whites who reported angina were 1.6 times more likely than nonwhites to be seen by a medical staff member within 10 minutes, and men were 1.5 times more likely than women to get that quick reaction, said study author Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was expected to report the findings at the American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Annual Conference in Colorado Springs.

Those numbers are not clear-cut evidence of discrimination on the basis of race and sex, Fang said, since emergency room responses may be based on evidence that ischemic heart disease — blockage of coronary arteries that causes chest pain — is more common among those who get faster treatment, and that chest pains are more likely to have other causes in nonwhites and women.

“When you see that the percentage of ischemic heart disease is higher among whites than nonwhites and among men than women, maybe the health-care providers who decide who gets treated first are thinking that whites are more likely to have ischemic heart disease, men are more likely to have ischemic heart disease,” she said.

The study found no difference in response time or treatment based on age. Emergency room service was the same for visitors complaining of chest pains who were over 65 and those who were younger.

But treatments were different for the sexes and races. Men were 1.5 times more likely than women to get an electrocardiogram and 1.7 times more likely to be given a beta-blocker heart drug. Whites were 1.8 times more likely than nonwhites to get an electrocardiogram and 1.5 times more likely to be prescribed drugs for chest pain.

The study did not show whether the difference in treatment made a difference in outcomes such as mortality or hospitalization, Fang said. “We were unable to note the outcome, short-term or long-term mortality,” she said. “A follow-up study would be nice.”

Two other reports presented at the same conference showed clear ethnic influences on incidence and awareness of cardiovascular disease in the American population.

A study of Native Americans done at the University of Oklahoma found they had a higher incidence of stroke and were more likely to have a first stroke at an early age than whites and African-Americans. The incidence of stroke among Native Americans in the study was 679 per 100,000 person-years, higher than among other Americans, and the average age when a first stroke occurred was 66.5 years, earlier than in the general population.

And a study of health beliefs done at Columbia University found that members of racial or ethnic minorities were less likely to adopt prevailing views of cardiovascular disease prevention than other Americans. Minorities were more likely to place faith in a higher power than on personal actions to prevent disease, the researchers found. The finding “may represent a unique opportunity for education and early intervention,” they said.
HealthDay

Posted in African American, emergency room visits, Health, health beliefs, health care, heart, heart attack, men, minorities, Native Americans, stroke, women

Tagged , , , ,

Study Finds Link Between Cancer Diagnosis and Insurance Coverage

Posted on March 16, 2008 by continuum wellness| 1 Comment

A recent research study found links between insurance coverage, ethnicity and a cancer diagnosis. Those who are uninsured and those who are covered by a Medicaid insurance plan often do not receive a diagnosis until the condition has reached the point of an advanced stage cancer. Twelve common cancer sites were studied: breast [female], colorectal, kidney, lung, melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, ovary, pancreas, prostate, urinary bladder, uterus and thyroid.

Uninsured and Medicaid-insured patients were significantly more likely to present with advanced-stage cancer compared with privately insured patients. Also more African-Americans were found to receive a later stage diagnosis. This finding was most prominent for patients who had cancers that can potentially be detected early by screening or symptom assessment. (full study here)

What If You Are Uninsured?

If you are uninsured take advantage of free cancer screenings. Many hospitals and clinics offer free screening services throughout the year or at annual health fairs.

Make health an enthusiastic priority. Many cancers develop over a 10 -20 year period. An interesting fact about the body is that our cells renew every seven years.

Learn about the symptoms and behaviors that lead to cancer.

Be Well.

Posted in African American, breast cancer, cancer, cervical cancer, Health, health care, insurance, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

American Teenage Girls, One in Four May Have an Sexually Transmitted Disease

Posted on March 12, 2008 by continuum wellness| 1 Comment

“What we found is alarming,” Dr. Sara Forhan, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a teleconference Tuesday. “One in four female adolescents in the U.S. has at least one of the four most common STDs that affects women.”"These numbers translate into 3.2 million young women nationwide who are infected with an STD,” Forhan said. “This means that far too many young women are at risk of the serious health effects of untreated STDs, including infertility and cervical cancer.”

These common STDs include human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus and trichomoniasis, Forhan said.

Forhan announced the results as part of the CDC’s 2008 National STD Prevention Conference, in Chicago.

“These findings are really giving us a lot of pause about how we provide care to adolescent girls who are sexually active,” said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York City and chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Section of Adolescent Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “The numbers are really astonishing.”

Forhan noted that most of the burden of STDs falls on young African-American women. “Among African-American teenagers, about one in two were affected compared to one in five white teens,” she said.

In terms of the racial disparity, “it’s what we’ve always seen, which is very unfortunate,” Alderman said.

In the study, Forhan’s team collected data on 838 girls aged 14 to 19 who took part in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study did not include syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV, as earlier studies found very low prevalence of these diseases in this age group.

HPV and chlamydia are the most common STDs found among teenage girls, Forhan said. “Almost one in five overall had a strain of HPV associated with cervical cancer or genital warts,” she said.

“We need to be screening adolescent girls who are sexually active and providing them with HPV vaccine,” Alderman said. “The recommendations are to screen sexually active girls, but many girls don’t disclose to their health-care provider that they are sexually active, even when asked,” she said.

As for chlamydia, 4 percent of teenaged girls had this STD, Forhan said. “The majority of chlamydia infections do not have symptoms. If left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which leaves these young women at risk for atopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain or infertility,” she said.

In addition, the study found that 2.9 percent of young women had trichomoniasis, and 2 percent were infected with genital herpes, Forhan said.

According to Forhan, about 50 percent of the teens reported having sex, and the prevalence of STDs in this group was 40 percent. “Even for young women with only one reported lifetime sexual partner, one in five had an STD,” she noted.

“If you choose to be sexually active, you need to protect yourself and be screened for these infections,” Alderman said. “And all girls between the ages of 11 and 26 should get vaccinated for HPV.”

Among women with an STD, 15 percent had more than one infection, Forhan added.

“These data provide a clearest picture to date of the overall burden of STDs in adolescent women in the United States,” Forhan said. “The study also underscores the importance of addressing racial disparities in STD rates among young women.”

Race itself is not a risk factor for STDs, Forhan said. However, factors such as limited access to health care, poverty, community prevalence of STDs, and misperceptions about individual risk are some of the reasons that STD rates are particularly high among African-Americans, she said.

Comments:

The female population in the United States ages 0-19 is estimated to be 40,328,895. This sample consisted of slightly over 800 girls. Who were they? What is their way of life? Based on this sample, it is recommended to vaccinate all girls. There are less risky ways to foster the health (if that is the goal) of young girls.

Posted in adolescents, African American, cancer, cervical cancer, girls, Health, HPV, poverty, sexually transmitted disease, std's, vaccination, vaccines

Tagged , , , ,