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Advertisement HEALTH NEWS Health education helps black smokers Reported by UPI MINNEAPOLIS, May 31 (UPI) -- African-Americans who are light smokers are more motivated to quit by completing health education than by using nicotine gum, a U.S. study finds. Study leader Dr. Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, professor and researcher with the University of Minnesota Medical School and Cancer Center, said the prevalence of cigarette smoking has decreased in the United States in the past few decades, but the number of people who maintain a low level of cigarette use, or light smokers, has been increasing -- especially teens, college students, women and ethnic minority groups. Approximately 50 percent of African-American smokers are light smokers, according to Ahluwalia. "Our results highlight the positive impact that directed health education and advice-oriented counseling has on helping African-American light smokers quit," Ahluwalia said. "We hope our study provides impetus for more studies that assess other intervention methods that may be successfully used to improve quit rates among African-American light smokers." The findings are published in the June issue of the journal Addiction. Study: Mexican-American Patients Use Herbal Products More than any other US Ethnic Groups By Carl Gilbert, M.D.  The result of a study done by a group of researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at Austin suggest that patients from Mexican origin use herbal products more than any other groups in the US. (Click for Full Story) Harlem-Based Physician Announces the Launch of a Black Doctor Search Engine New York, NY - April 5, 2005-( Press Release)  Findablackdoctor.com is a free Internet service that allows the public to locate U.S. based African-American physicians, as well as dentists, podiatrists, clinical psychologists, and other health care providers. The demand for this reliable and user-friendly service has been expressed by many African Americans. Founder, Dr. Strachan explains, "Quite often, patients insist on being seen by a black dermatologist, and didn’t know how to find one. I’ve had clients reach out from as far as Australia, who were seeking either black dermatologists or people with expertise in black skin." Dr. Strachan continues, "There were also many others who were seeking referrals for black physicians of different specialties." Breast Reconstruction Less Likely for Black Women By Carl Gilbert, MD African-American women in the US are far less likely to undergo breast reconstruction following mastectomy than white women, regardless of socioeconomic factors, indicates a study published in Cancer, Aug 23, 2004. The researchers from the University of Texas M. D Anderson Cancer Center in Houston reviewed the records of 1004 women with primary breast cancer who underwent mastectomy at M. D. Anderson between 2001 and 2002. Three hundred seventy-six of the women underwent immediate breast reconstruction. This included 20.2 percent of African-American women, compared with 40.0 percent of white women, 42.0 percent of Hispanic women, 42.2 percent of Asian women, and 10.0 percent of Middle Eastern women, write the researchers After adjusting for socioeconomic factors, African-American and Asian women were significantly less likely to undergo immediate breast reconstruction than white women. The rates of immediate breast reconstruction were similar for Hispanic and white women. Middle Eastern women had lower rates of immediate breast reconstruction but higher rates of delayed reconstruction relative to white women. The rate of delayed breast reconstruction was also lower in African-American and Asian women compared with white women. The researchers could not establish with certainty the reasons for the disparity. Reference: Cancer 2004; 101. Related Topic: At First She Did Not Like the Idea of Breast Reconstruction   Fewer Minorities than Ever in U.S. Cancer Trials By Carl Gilbert, MD  June 9, 2004-   Racial and ethnic minorities, women, and the elderly were less likely to be enrolled in cancer clinical trials than whites, men, and younger patients, reports a study published in the June 9 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).  "From 1996 through 2002, 75,215 patients were enrolled in NCI-sponsored cooperative group nonsurgical treatment trials for breast, lung, colorectal, or prostate cancers. Approximately 3.1 percent of trial participants were Hispanic, 85.6 percent were white, 9.2 percent were black, 1.9 percent were Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 0.3 percent were American Indians/Alaskan Natives," the researchers report.                  This lower enrollment in cancer clinical trials occurred despite the substantial cancer burden borne in the U.S. by minorities and the elderly populations.  The elderly make up about two-thirds of patients with either breast, colorectal, prostate or lung cancer.  Yet they represented only one-third of clinical trial participants, according to the report.   Ten years ago, Congress enacted the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act, which calls for representation of women and minority patients in NIH-sponsored research. The reasons suggested for the low enrollment of  U.S. minorities  in cancer trials  include past and ongoing discrimination in the healthcare delivery, mistrust by minorities, which are also less likely than whites to be offered trial participation.   On the other hand, the number of elderly minorities is projected to jump by 226 percent in the next 20 years.  Therefore health issues facing that population, such as cancer, will need increased attention. Article Source: JAMA. 2004;291:2720-2726 Resources provided by All About Black Health:  Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities National Cancer Institute   Cancer Clinical Trials Sharon Parmet, Cassio Lynm, and Richard M. Glass JAMA. 2004;291:2778. EXTRACT | FULL TEXT          Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups, Inc Acurian Hearing Focuses on Indian Health Care By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LBUQUERQUE, Oct. 18, 2003 — Poverty, inadequate education, cultural and language barriers and geographic distances all are factors in health care disparities faced by American Indians, tribal leaders and health care advocates told the United States Commission on Civil Rights on Friday. The commission heard suggestions at a hearing here about how health care services for Indians could be improved. The hearing came as lawmakers are looking to review and expand the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. The act, which expires this year, guides federal health and education spending for Indians. "These discussions should enlighten and provide more information to the Congress," said Mary Frances Berry, chairwoman of the commission. While medical care and public health efforts, like mass vaccinations and sanitation facilities, have increased in the last several years, Indians still face higher rates of cardiovascular disease, alcoholism, oral diseases and one type of diabetes than does the general population. What is distressing is that those diseases are preventable, said Jon Perez, director of the Division of Behavioral Health at the Indian Health Service. According to commission estimates, the per capita health expenditure for all Americans will be $5,775 this year. The Indian Health Service spends about $1,600 per person, and in the Navajo Nation, spending is less than $800 per person. Charles W. Grim, Indian Health Service director, said Indian health centers lacked adequate staff and financing. Dr. Grim said health care could be improved through recruitment and retainment programs for medical professionals, as well as cultural training for health care providers. Scholarships, loan repayments and other incentives would help retain specialists, he said. "We're looking more and more at recruitment initiatives," Dr. Grim said. "We need to train our local people so they can stay there." Only 19 of the 49 Indian Health Service and tribal hospitals across the country have surgery programs, tribal leaders said, and many reservations lack medical services for veterans. As a result, Indians must sometimes travel great distances to receive specialized treatment. "It's clear that the programs that they have now are not funded adequately, that they're not staffed adequately," Ms. Berry said. "And no matter how hard I.H.S. tries, their needs haven't been given a preferred position within the budget on the part of the national government." The hearing, in addressing the health care situation as a rights issue, will add a legal angle to Congress' review of the act, said Kay Culbertson, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes in Montana. "I think that this is the first time probably in a long time that they've looked at Indian health, or Indian issues, as civil rights violations," Ms. Culbertson said. "I think they're going to have to look at it as: `This is a potential liability for the United States. We haven't met the needs of Indian people across the country, therefore maybe we need to seriously start looking at what we can do for them.' "   Survey: Minorities Feel Cheated in Health Care WASHINGTON (Reuters) Sept. 22, 2003- U.S. blacks and Hispanics feel they get worse health care than their white compatriots, according to a study published on Monday -- a feeling supported by scientific evidence. The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, finds that blacks and Hispanics are up to three times more likely than whites to feel that minorities receive a lower level of care. Just one in five whites felt minorities got shortchanged, the survey, done by the Harvard University Forums on Health, Health Affairs, The New America Foundation, and other groups, found. "The poll findings show a persistent feeling among minorities that the care they are getting is not equal to that of whites," Dr. David Blumenthal, director of Harvard's Interfaculty Program on Health Systems Improvement, said in a statement. "Inequality in medical access and treatment is a problem for many Americans that can no longer be ignored." In 2002 the Institute of Medicine (news - web sites) reported that members of racial and ethnic minorities are given lower quality health care than whites even when make as much money and carry the same insurance. The Institute, an independent body that advises Congress and the federal government, suggested that deliberate or unconscious bias by doctors and other health care providers may worsen the problem. The survey by Lake Snell Perry & Associates involved 806 adults and was weighted to include extra numbers of blacks and Hispanics. Those surveyed felt that cultural and language barriers were most to blame for the disparities while more than half felt doctors and nurses treat minority patients differently than white patients.   Blacks Hurt More by Power Plant Pollution - Study Says ATLANTA (Reuters) - Blacks are more likely than whites to live near areas polluted by power plants and suffer adverse health consequences as a result, civil rights and environmental activists said on October 23, 2002. The study,  released by several groups which include the Atlanta -based Georgia for the People's Agenda and the Washington-based Black Leadership Forum, has shown that 68% of blacks live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, compared with 56% of US whites.  Thirty miles is the distance within which people experience the maximum effects of smokestack emissions, the study said. Nationwide, 71% of blacks live in counties that do not meet federal air pollution standards, compared with 58% of whites, the study said. "While air pollution comes from a variety of sources, power plants are some of the most significant contributors," said Ulla Reeves, regional air director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, an environmental group.  Reeves has called for a national policy to collectively clean up dirty coal plants across the U.S. The leading reason for this disparity stems from the fact that blacks, who have higher poverty rates, tend to live in those polluted areas because of cheaper housing.  Emission of sulfur dioxide, a toxic gas that irritates the lungs,  is responsible for a number of respiratory ailments, such as asthma, according to the study which also reports that U.S. power plants account for 67% of all emissions of sulfur dioxide. Emissions from power plants also combine with other pollutants to form ozone smog, also blamed for these respiratory ailments. Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich, executive director of the Black Leadership Forum, said the pollution in black communities helped explain why asthma hospitalization rates are higher for blacks than whites. The study reported that asthma hospitalization rates for blacks, at 35.6 admissions per 10,000 people, were three times the white hospitalization rate of 10.6 admissions per 10,000 people. The death rate from asthma among blacks of 38.7 deaths per one million people was twice that for whites, which was 14.2 deaths per one million people, the study found. Scruggs-Leftwich said while the study shows a need to clean up power plants, other solutions included providing blacks with better access to medical care and educational training. Many blacks cannot afford to live in healthier areas, Scruggs-Leftwich added. "One of the reasons people are still in these polluted communities is because they have homes they cannot sell, they have not been able to identify employment opportunities that would give them a stable income in another community," Scruggs-Leftwich said. Related Topic:   Why Are Blacks so Vulnerable to Cancer? Environmental Justice for All                                                                                                                                                    (HOME)

                    

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