journal of law, medicine & ethics Health equity can be defined as the absence of disadvantage to individuals and communities in health outcomes, access to health care, and quality of health care regardless of one’s race, gender, nationality, age, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status.1 Health equity concerns those disparities in public health that can be traced to unequal, systemic econ...

Health care disparities research is an exponentially growing and multi-faceted field. Our objective was to identify and analyze the top 100 cited articles in health care disparities. The authors searched the Thomas Reuters Web of Science for citations of all research papers (articles) relevant to health care disparities. After analyzing search results, the number of citations, authorship, year,...

BACKGROUND Cancer health disparities by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography are a top public health priority. Breast and colorectal cancer, in particular, have been shown to exhibit significant disparities and contribute a large proportion of morbidity and mortality from cancer. In addition, breast and colorectal cancer offer targets for prevention and control, including nutrit...

INTRODUCTION Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) refers to a person's or group's perceived physical and mental health over time. Coronary heart disease (CHD) affects HRQOL and likely varies among groups. This study examined disparities in HRQOL among adults with self-reported CHD. METHODS We examined disparities in HRQOL by using the unhealthy days measurements among adults who self-report...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of disability and death in the United States, accounting for 31.3% of all deaths in a given year (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). Importantly, risk factors for CVD, the incidence of CVD, and adverse outcomes associated with CVD are not experienced equally by all segments of society. Although there are variations depending on the specific cardiovascul...

The quality of life (QOL) of cancer survivors must be investigated as we learn about the risks and protective factors associated with cancer survival. Little research has included African American cancer survivors, and this group could be more or less vulnerable to the added stress of cancer. By virtue of the greater stress burden imposed by minority status, lower socioeconomic status, and othe...

BACKGROUND A growing body of research has found that people with disabilities experience lower health status and an excess burden of disease relative to the general US population. However, the population of people with disabilities is quite diverse. Thus, it is important to understand health differences between subgroups of people with disabilities in order to most effectively target interventi...

In 2003 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) was charged by Congress to examine racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Their landmark report, “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare,” brought the issue of health care disparities to national attention. The report concluded that “Racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive a lower quality of healthcare than ...

BACKGROUND Adolescents giving birth represents an important public health issue with social, economic, and health-related consequences. OBJECTIVE Compare birth rates and trends in birth rates among adolescents age 15-19 years in Wisconsin and the United States by race/ethnicity. METHODS Teen birth rates from 1998-2002, and trends in birth rates from 1995-2002 for Wisconsin and the United St...