African American, Black people, Ethnic minorities

Importance: Approximately 13% of US adults are affected by visual disability, with disproportionately higher rates in groups impacted by certain social determinants of health (SDOH). Objective: To evaluate SDOH associated with severe visual impairment (SVI) to ultimately guide targeted interventions to improve ophthalmic health. Design, Setting, and Participants: This quality improvement study used cross-sectional data from a telephone survey from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) that was conducted in the US from January 2019 to December 2020...

INTRODUCTION: Influenza vaccination can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the US. However, differences in state-level trends in CVD and sociodemographic and health care characteristics of adults with CVD have not yet been studied. METHODS: In this repeated cross-sectional study, we extracted 476,227 records of adults with a self-reported history of CVD from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from January 2011 through December 2020...

Diabetes is an epidemic in the United States and is ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in the District of Columbia. According to the US Census population in 2010, >52,000 out of 610,000 residents have been diagnosed with diabetes. The highest prevalence was noted in wards 4, 5, 7, and 8, with the worst impact recorded in ward 8. The diabetes death rate among African Americans is five times that for Caucasians living in Colombia district, according to the DC department of health. There is an 11% disparity in the prevalence of diabetes when comparing black- and white people in the district (14% and 3%, respectively)...

Background: HIV is a chronic illness that impacts the lives of more than 1 million people in the United States. As persons living with HIV (PWH) are living longer, it is important to understand the influence that religiosity/spirituality has among middle-aged and older PWH. Objective: Compare the degree of religiosity/spirituality among middle-aged and older PWH and HIV-negative individuals, and to identify demographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors associated with religiosity/spirituality among PWH. Method: Baseline data on 122 PWH and 92 HIV-negative individuals (ages 36-65 years; 61...

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether increasing attention to police brutality is a source of stress associated with substance use risk among young people. METHODS: A longitudinal racially/ethnically diverse cohort from Los Angeles, California (n = 1797) completed baseline (2017; mean age: 17.9) and follow-up (2020; mean age: 21.2) surveys assessing level of concern, worry, and stress about police brutality (range: 0 'not at all' - 4 'extremely') and past 30-day nicotine, cannabis, alcohol, other drug, and number of substances used (0-19)...

Background: Research has shown that transgender and nonbinary people experience health disparities. However, few studies have explored, in-depth, the health-related experiences, perceptions, needs, and priorities of transgender women of color living in the U.S. South, a region that poses unique challenges to achieving health for transgender people. Aims: This study explored the social determinants of health, healthcare experiences, and health-related priorities of transgender women of color living in the U...

The COVID-19 syndemic, with a disproportionately higher adverse impact on communities of color (i.e., COVID-19 infection and death), will likely exacerbate the existing health disparities in trauma-related symptoms between people of color (POC) and White Americans. However, no studies have examined the racial disparity in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during COVID-19. Grounded in ecological theory and racial trauma framework, we investigated racial disparity in PTSS and three possible mechanisms, 1) COVID stress, 2) direct racism, and 3) indirect racism, for these disparities using a large U...

COVID-19 inequities have been well-documented. We evaluated whether higher rates of severe COVID-19 in racial and ethnic minority groups were driven by higher infection rates by evaluating if disparities remained when analyses were restricted to people with infection. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adults insured through Kaiser Permanente (Colorado, Northwest, Washington), follow-up in March-September 2020. Laboratory results and hospitalization diagnosis codes identified individuals with COVID-19...

Nearly 30 years after the 1993 National Institute of Health Revitalization Act, which required the inclusion of women and racial/ethnic minority groups into government-funded clinical trials, minority groups remain under-represented in research and disparities in health outcomes and longevity remain. These problematic trends are particularly evident when considering Black and community-based research in Alzheimer's Disease and related dementia (ADRD). Deeply rooted historical race-based mistreatment in research and in the health care system at large along with ineffective recruitment approaches persist as barriers to the low-participation of Black participants in dementia care studies...

In December 2020, we conducted a telephone survey to determine what factors are connected to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among adults in Nevada. The survey was based on factors identified in other studies, such as demographic variables (age, race, ethnicity, gender, household income, urbanicity, educational attainment), health status, previous COVID-19 infections, social media engagement, adherence to social distancing guidelines, beliefs about COVID-19, and political ideology identifications. Using a proportional odds model, we compared vaccine hesitancy levels to determine the odds of being more likely versus unlikely to get the COVID-19 vaccine...

Objective: Racial inequities in mental health care utilization (MHCU) are well documented. Marginalized racial groups are more likely to report psychosis-like experiences (PLEs) and are at elevated risk for racial discrimination and trauma, impacting PLE severity. Little is known about how factors associated with race impact treatment seeking among individuals reporting PLEs. The present study examined associations between race, trauma, discrimination, PLEs, and MHCU among people endorsing high levels of PLEs...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S): Workforce studies demonstrate that representation of Black, Latinx, Indigenous people and women in radiation oncology (RO) is lacking and relates to structural inequities, bias, and the systemic exclusion of diverse individuals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To that end, ASPP was launched in 2019 with the goal of exposing STEM undergraduate and early medical students who are women and/or students from racial and ethnic backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in RO to the field and its related specialties, including physics and radiation biology...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) after ischemic stroke is underutilized in racially/ethnically minoritized groups. We aimed to determine the regional and geographic variability in racial/ethnic IVT disparities in the United States. METHODS: Acute ischemic stroke admissions between 2012 and 2018 were identified in the National Inpatient Sample. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test the association between IVT and race/ethnicity, stratified by geographic region and controlling for demographic, clinical, and hospital characteristics...

BACKGROUND: The age-distribution of men who have sex with men (MSM) continues to change in the 'Treat-All' era as effective test-and-treat programs target key-populations. However, the nature of these changes and potential racial heterogeneities remain uncertain. METHODS: The PEARL model is an agent-based simulation of MSM in HIV care in the US, calibrated to data from the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD). RESULTS: PEARL projects a gradual decrease in median age of MSM at ART initiation from 36 to 31 years during 2010-2030, accompanied by reductions in mortality among Black, White, and Hispanic MSM on ART by 63...

BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic minorities face disparities in access to health care. Culturally competent care might lessen these disparities. Few studies have studied the patients' view of providers' cultural competence, especially in psychiatric care. We aimed to examine the associations of race, ethnicity, and mental health status with patient-reported importance of provider cultural competence. METHODS: Our retrospective, population-based, cross-sectional study used data extracted from self-reported questionnaires of adults aged at least 18 years who participated in the US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS; 2017 cycle)...

Little research has examined subtle, intersectional, and everyday minority stress, such as microaggressions specific to being a queer person of color, and its associations with depressive symptoms among sexual and gender minority adolescents (SGMA) of color. Moreover, research is needed to identify mechanisms that might explain the associations between minority stress and depression. This study examined the associations between subtle and intersectional minority stress (i.e., SGMA of color-specific microaggressions) and depressive symptoms among SGMA of color and tested self-concept factors (i...

We tested if Latinx and Black individuals are more likely to somaticize depression compared with their White counterparts. We analyzed 14,745 depression ratings from 4,101 people living with HIV from 2007 to 2014. We calculated the percentage of each depression score accounted for by somatic symptom items (e.g., feeling tired). We analyzed depression scores using generalized estimation equations, which accounts for repeated measures within each person. Somatic symptoms accounted for 70% of depression scores for White patients, 66% for Latinx patients, and 68% for Black patients...

Importance: Provisional records from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through July 2020 indicate that overdose deaths spiked during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet more recent trends are not available, and the data are not disaggregated by month of occurrence, race/ethnicity, or other social categories. In contrast, data from emergency medical services (EMS) provide a source of information nearly in real time that may be useful for rapid and more granular surveillance of overdose mortality...

For the outcome of clinical trials to have validity, participants should represent the patients that will be using the medical products, though this is often not the case. Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in cancer clinical trials for a variety of reasons. This is a concern because people of different ages, races, and ethnicities may react differently to medical products. The estimated extent of racial disparities in clinical trial access varies in the literature, yet recent reports-such as the FDA's 2018 Drug Trials Snapshots-indicate the presence of a remarkable imbalance...

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have documented multilevel racial inequalities in health care utilization, medical treatment, and quality of care in minority populations in the United States. Palliative care for people with serious illness and hospice services for people approaching the end of life are no exception. It is also well established that Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to have less knowledge about advance care planning and directives, hospice, and palliative care...