Health information Websites: characteristics of US users by race and ethnicity

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 298-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
E A Miller ◽  
D M West ◽  
M Wasserman

We conducted a national public opinion survey of adults aged 18 years or older in the continental US to determine their use of health Websites. Of the 928 individuals contacted, 868 (94%) reported their race/ethnicity. More non-Hispanic Whites reported using the Internet (34%) than African Americans (31%) and Hispanics (20%). We used logistic regression to estimate adjusted odds ratios describing the relationship between Website usage and covariates across the racial/ethnic subgroups. Whereas better perceived health was associated with greater Website use among Hispanics and Whites, stronger health literacy was associated with greater use among Hispanics. No African American or Hispanic respondent aged 65 years or older reported going online. The relationship between education and use was more than twice as strong for African Americans and Hispanics than other groups. That some minority groups are less likely to use the World Wide Web for health information may further compound existing disparities. One place where this problem may be addressed is in the nation's schools.

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Gamino ◽  
Justin T Parizo ◽  
David Scheinker ◽  
Fatima Rodriguez

Introduction: Racial/ethnic diversity in clinical trials is essential to ensure that our evidence base reflects the population. We assessed the extent of reporting and representation of race/ethnicity in heart failure (HF) clinical trials referenced in the contemporary ACC/AHA HF guidelines. Methods: All randomized trials referenced in the 2013 ACC/AHA Heart Failure Guidelines and the 2017 Focused Update were included. The prevalence of reporting of race/ethnicity, the proportions of racial/ethnic subgroups enrolled, and subgroup analysis based on intervention type - pharmacologic, device, and other - were evaluated. Results: We identified 256 trials (545 233 subjects) published between 1950 and 2018. Among these, only 95 reported any race/ethnicity (37.1%), 94 reported white race (36.7%), 58 reported black race (22.7%), 16 reported Hispanic ethnicity (6.3%), and 23 reported Asian race (9.0%). In trials reporting white, black, Hispanic, and Asian race/ethnicity respectively, 76.4% (n = 299 153 of 299872) of patients were white, 11.7% (n = 25 274 of 215 905) of patients were black, 11.2% (n = of 8863 of 79 097) of patients were Hispanic, and 10.5% (n = 14925 of 141 504) of patients were Asian. Comparison of trial population proportions with US Census population demonstrates over-representation of white subjects, and under-representation of Hispanic and black subjects (Figure). Stratification by intervention type demonstrated that no device trials referenced in the guidelines report black or Asian race, and just one reported Hispanic race. Conclusions: Trials that dictate clinical care of patients with HF through informing contemporary ACC/AHA HF guidelines under-represent black and Hispanic populations. Additionally, 2/3rds of trials fail to report any race/ ethnicity at all. There is a need for guideline and practice-informing clinical trials to adequately represent all populations, and to provide clinicians the data they need to assess generalizability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 561-567
Author(s):  
Lilyana Amezcua ◽  
Jacob L McCauley

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has a strong racial and ethnic component and disproportionately affects whites of European background. Recent incidence reports suggest an increasing rate of MS among African Americans compared with whites. Despite this recent increase in MS in African Americans, Hispanics and Asians are significantly less likely to develop MS than whites of European ancestry. MS-specific mortality trends demonstrate distinctive disparities by race/ethnicity and age, suggesting that there is an unequal burden of disease. Inequalities in health along with differences in clinical characteristics that may be genetic, environmental, and social in origin may be contributing to disease variability and be suggestive of endophenotypes. The overarching goal of this review was to summarize the current understanding on the variability of disease that we observe in selected racial and ethnic populations: Hispanics and African Americans. Future challenges will be to unravel the genetic, environmental, and social determinants of the observed racial/ethnic disparities.


Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110386
Author(s):  
Violeta J. Rodriguez ◽  
Dominique L. La Barrie ◽  
Miriam C. Zegarac ◽  
Anne Shaffer

The limited inclusion of racial/ethnic minorities in the development and validation of parenting measures limits our understanding of whether parenting constructs are valid in racial and ethnic minorities. Tests of measurement invariance/equivalence (MI/E) of parenting measures can help evaluate the validity of parenting constructs among racial/ethnic minorities. This systematic review summarized studies on MI/E of parenting constructs by race/ethnicity and evaluated the strength of the evidence. A literature search was conducted using various databases and references to retrieve studies from the United States. Indeed, 10 studies were identified that tested for MI/E of eight parenting scales by race/ethnicity. Only one scale showed moderate evidence of MI/E, five showed weak evidence of MI/E, and two showed no evidence of MI/E. Most studies (80%) used factor analytic methods to test for MI/E, but only two studies (20%) examined all levels of invariance. These findings show that differences exist in how racial/ethnic minorities perceive parenting constructs. Further research is needed to develop more inclusive parenting measures, to protect against the ways in which biased measures may pathologize or misrepresent parenting practices among racial/ethnic minorities.


2020 ◽  
pp. 91-110
Author(s):  
Michael Ritter

Race and ethnicity group identity also shape participation in politics, with non-Hispanics whites being the most likely to vote in U.S. elections over time. Can accessible elections shrink turnout inequality between non-Hispanic whites and racial/ethnic minorities (African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans)? Chapter 6 empirically evaluates the impact of convenience voting laws and election administration on the change in the probably of voting in midterm and presidential elections comparing across racial subgroups. The results show that same day registration boosts turnout among non-Hispanics whites, as well as Asian Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans, in presidential and midterm elections. Early in-person voting especially advantages blacks and Hispanics in midterm elections, while absentee/mail voting is found to have similar effects for Asian Americans. Both non-Hispanic whites and racial and ethnic minorities benefit from quality state election administration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 780-780
Author(s):  
L Weiss

Abstract Objective To quantify potential mediators of observed IQ test score differences of Whites with Hispanics and African Americans in the WISC-IV, WISC-V, and WAIS-IV standardization data sets. Method Mediators included parent education, income and academic expectations for children and adolescents; and self-education, income and occupation for adults. Observed IQ score means are presented by race and ethnicity, unadjusted for demographics. A series of regressions quantify the variance in IQ test scores accounted for by race/ethnicity before and after controlling for SES related mediators. Results SES related mediators accounted for substantial portions of IQ score variance in all group comparisons and age ranges, but least for African Americans and adults. Conclusions The critical influence of cognitively enriching and impoverishing environments on the neurocognitive development of children, and the unequal distribution of these influences across social and economic groups are discussed as complementary with interpretations of acculturation and heredity.


Author(s):  
Christina Campbell ◽  
William Miller

Juvenile risk assessment instruments have provided juvenile courts with the opportunity to make standardized decisions concerning sentences and intervention needs. Risk assessments have replaced the reliance on professional decision-making practices in which court officials relied on their hunches or previous experience to determine what to do with youth once they became involved in corrections. A primary goal of juvenile risk assessment is to improve case management and help courts focus resources on juveniles who exhibit the greatest intervention needs. Further, juvenile risk assessments play a critical role in estimating which juveniles will likely reoffend by identifying factors that increase the propensity of future offending. Although some researchers believe that the implementation of standardized juvenile risk assessments is a good strategy for reducing biased decision-making for racial/ethnic minorities, other researchers have called into question the extent to which risk assessments overestimate risk for certain juveniles, especially those in minority groups who have a history of being marginalized due to their race, culture, or ethnicity. This article provides an overview of how well juvenile risk assessment instruments predict future delinquency across race and ethnicity. The review suggests that in general, risk assessments do a good job in predicting recidivism across racial/ethnic groups for diverse populations inside and outside the United States. However, there is still some room for improvement concerning the assessment of risk and needs for ethnic minorities. In addition, while there are some studies that do not report the predictive validity of risk assessment scores across race/ethnicity, risk assessments overall seem to be a promising effort to correctly classify and/or identify juveniles who are at greatest risk for future recidivism.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Pandey ◽  
N. Williams ◽  
M. Donat ◽  
M. Ceide ◽  
P. Brimah ◽  
...  

Background. Evidence suggests that insufficient sleep duration is associated with an increased likelihood for hypertension. Both short (<6 hours) and long (>8 hour) sleep durations as well as hypertension are more prevalent among blacks than among whites. This study examined associations between sleep duration and hypertension, considering differential effects of race and ethnicity among black and white Americans.Methods. Data came from a cross-sectional household interview with 25,352 Americans (age range: 18–85 years).Results. Both white and black short sleepers had a greater likelihood of reporting hypertension than those who reported sleeping 6 to 8 hours. Unadjusted logistic regression analysis exploring the race/ethnicity interactions between insufficient sleep and hypertension indicated that black short (<6 hours) and long (>8 hours) sleepers were more likely to report hypertension than their white counterparts (OR = 1.34 and 1.37, resp.;P<0.01). Significant interactions of insufficient sleep with race/ethnicity were observed even after adjusting to effects of age, sex, income, education, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking, emotional distress, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke.Conclusion. Results suggest that the race/ethnicity interaction is a significant mediator in the relationship between insufficient sleep and likelihood of having a diagnosis of hypertension.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. McCabe

There are many reasons why Americans prefer homeownership to renting. Owning a home can serve as a vehicle for economic mobility or a marker of status attainment. Homeownership may deepen feelings of ontological security and enable families to move into more convenient neighborhoods. While previous research on race, ethnicity, and housing focuses on homeownership attainment, identifying structural barriers to explain persistent racial disparities, there has been little investigation of the reasons why Americans prefer to own their own homes. Drawing on the National Housing Survey, a nationally representative survey of American adults, I ask how these reasons vary by race and ethnicity. I report that African Americans and Latinos are more likely than whites to identify the social status of ownership and the importance of building wealth as reasons to buy a home. While African Americans are also more likely to pursue homeownership as a way to improve their housing quality, they are less likely to view ownership as a tool for accessing more convenient neighborhoods. As a contribution to research on racial stratification in homeownership, my findings push beyond existing studies of revealed preferences to explain why buying a home endures as such an important goal for many Americans. African Americans and Latinos are more deeply invested in the social status of homeownership, the importance of building wealth, and the promise of moving into a nicer home when they pursue ownership opportunities.


2001 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. KHALAKDINA ◽  
F. TABNAK ◽  
R. K. P. SUN ◽  
J. M. COLFORD

To study whether African-Americans are less likely than whites to present with cryptosporidiosis as an AIDS-defining condition (ADC), a case-control study was conducted using a large, population-based surveillance registry of AIDS patients in California. Data from January 1980 through June 1999 were analysed using risk factor stratification and multivariate logistic regression to evaluate confounding by other risk factors such as gender, injection drug use (IDU), CD4 counts, age and sexual orientation. Cases included 1373 subjects with cryptosporidiosis as an ADC and controls included 97419 subjects with other ADC. The results indicate a significantly lower risk for presentation with cryptosporidiosis as an ADC among African-Americans compared with whites (OR vs. whites = 0·5, 95% CI 0·4, 0·7). Additionally, there is evidence that heterosexuals are less likely than homosexual/bisexual males to present with cryptosporidiosis (OR = 0·5, 95% CI 0·4, 0·7). Our analyses also suggest a decreasing risk with increasing age. The possibility that there may be biologic factors or differential lifetime exposures that account for the difference between the racial/ethnic groups merits further investigation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dipanjan Banerjee ◽  
Eric C. Wong ◽  
Jessica Shin ◽  
Stephen P. Fortmann ◽  
Latha Palaniappan

Background. Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). There are known racial/ethnic differences in Lp(a) levels, and the association of Lp(a) with CVD outcomes has not been examined in Asian Americans in the USA.Objective. We hypothesized that Lp(a) levels would differ in Asian Indians and Chinese Americans when compared to NHW and that the relationship between Lp(a) and CVD outcomes would be different in these Asian racial/ethnic subgroups when compared to NHW.Methods. We studied the outpatient electronic health records of 2022 NHW, 295 Asian Indians, and 151 Chinese adults age≥18 y in Northern California in whom Lp(a) levels were assessed during routine clinical care from 2001 to 2008, excluding those who had received prescriptions for niacin (14.6%). Nonparametric methods were used to compare median Lp(a) levels. Significance was assessed at theP<.0001level to account for multiple comparisons. CVD outcomes were defined as ischemic heart disease (IHD) (265 events), stroke (122), or peripheral vascular disease (PVD) (87). We used logistic regression to determine the relationship between Lp(a) and CVD outcomes.Results. Both Asian Indians (36 nmol/L) and NHW (29 nmol/L) had higher median Lp(a) levels than Chinese (22 nmol/L,P≤.0001andP=.0032). When stratified by sex, the differences in median Lp(a) between these groups persisted in the 1761 men (AI v CH:P=.001, NHW v CH:P=.0018) but were not statistically significant in the 1130 women (AI v CH:P=.0402, NHW v CH:P=.0761). Asian Indians (OR=2.0) and Chinese (OR=4.8) exhibited a trend towards greater risk of IHD with high Lp(a) levels than NHW (OR=1.4), but no relationship was statistically significant.Conclusion. Asian Indian and NHW men have higher Lp(a) values than Chinese men, with a trend toward, similar associations in women. High Lp(a) may be more strongly associated with IHD in Asian Indians and Chinese, although we did not have a sufficient number of outcomes to confirm this. Further studies should strive to elucidate the relationship between Lp(a) levels, CVD, and race/ethnicity among Asian subgroups in the USA.


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