Posts tagged black

U.S. Obesity Rates Plateau (at a High Level); Rates Still Higher in Blacks, Latinos

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4 months ago
by admin in

The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. largely leveled off over the last decade, even as some individual groups, such as boys from ages 6 to 19, saw increases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Bloomberg reports.

Obesity rates in adults rose slightly to 35.7% from 30.5% between 1999 and 2010, compared with rates that nearly doubled the two previous decades.

Overall, a third of the population—78 million adults and 12.5 million children—were obese in 2009- 2010.

According to the story:

“The fact that prevalence rates are reaching a plateau is good news, but by no means are we at the end of the epidemic,” said David Ludwig, a pediatric endocrinologist and director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Children’s Hospital Boston. “Unless we see declining rates of obesity the impact on society will continue to mount for many years to come. The plateau is at an unacceptably high level.”

Also, a Medscape report form the same study indicates that racial differences also were striking.

Black and Hispanic children and adolescents had higher obesity rates (24.3% and 21.2%) than white children (14%).

Mental Health Workforce Shortage More Critical in Minority Communities

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4 months ago
by admin in ,

Texas’ severe shortage of mental health professionals is compounded by a disparity in diagnosing and treating the state’s rapidly growing Latino and other minority communities, the Texas Tribune reports.

The report indicates that 64% of all psychiatrists were white, 3.5% were black, and 12.4% were Hispanic in 2009.

Watch this captivating video to see more about this issue.

Sugary Beverage Companies Are Targeting Hispanic Kids, Teens

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6 months ago
by admin in ,

Children and teens—especially Hispanics—are exposed to a substantial amount of marketing for sugary drinks, such as full-calorie sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks and fruit drinks, according to a new report from the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.

The report indicates that sugary beverages are specifically targeting Hispanic and black youth:

  • Beverage companies have indicated that they view Hispanics and blacks as a source of future growth for sugary drink product sales.
  • Marketing on Spanish TV is growing. From 2008 to 2010, Hispanic children saw 49% more ads for sugary drinks and energy drinks, and teens saw 99% more ads.
  • Hispanic preschoolers saw more ads for Coca-Cola Classic, Kool-Aid, 7 Up and Sunny D than Hispanic older children and teens did.

The report recommends ways that parents can make a difference, as well as indicates that beverage companies must change their harmful marketing practices.

Get the full report here.

Black, Hispanic Kids More Likely to be Hospitalized for Severe Asthma Attacks

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10 months ago
by admin in

Black children were four times more likely and Hispanic children slightly more likely than white children to be hospitalized for a severe asthma attack in 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

For every 100,000 children ages 2-17 hospitalized for asthma attacks, the federal agency’s data show that: 384 were black, 94 were white, and 135 were Hispanic.

Asian and Pacific Islander children were the least likely to need inpatient hospital care for asthma (78).

Also, children from poor families were more than twice as likely as those from high-income families to be admitted, (231 versus 102).

Teens Drink Healthy, but Guzzle Soda, Too; Differences by Race/Ethnicity

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11 months ago
by admin in ,

Although high school students report drinking plenty of water, milk, and real fruit juice, they still gulp down more sugar-sweetened beverages than is probably good for them, CDC researchers found, ABC News reports.

About 24% of teen respondents said they had a soda every day.

Several racial/ethnic differences were found, according to the story, which originated at MedPage Today. Teen boys were more likely report drinking milk and whole fruit juices than girls, and whites were more likely than blacks and Hispanics to have water and milk every day. Boys and blacks were also more likely to drink soda and sports drinks than girls and white or Hispanic teens.

For more, watch the ABC News report here or below:

Hispanic, Other Minority Youth Spend More Time Plugged In

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11 months ago
by admin in
From USA Today

From USA Today

Hispanics and other minorities ages 8-18 consume an average of 13 hours of media content a day, about 4-1/2 hours more than their white counterparts, according to a Northwestern University report, the first national study to focus exclusively on children’s media use by race and ethnicity.

Findings include:

Minority youth spend about an hour and a half more each day than White youth using their cell phones, iPods, etc., to watch TV and videos, play games, and listen to music (3:07 in mobile media use among Asians, 2:53 among Hispanics, 2:52 among blacks, and 1:20 among whites).

Black and Hispanic youth consuming an average of more than three hours of live TV daily (3:23 for blacks, 3:08 for Hispanics, 2:28 for Asians and 2:14 for whites).

TV viewing rates are even higher when data on time-shifting technologies such as TiVo, DVDs, and mobile and online viewing are included (5:54 for black youth, 5:21 for Hispanics, 4:41 for Asians, and 3:36 for whites).

Black and Hispanic youth are more likely to have TV sets in their bedrooms (84% of blacks, 77% of Hispanics compared to 64% of whites and Asians)

About 78% of black and 67% of Hispanic youth eat more meals in front of the TV set compared to 58% of white and 55% of Asian youths.

“In the past decade, the gap between minority and white youth’s daily media use has doubled for blacks and quadrupled for Hispanics,” says Northwestern Professor Ellen Wartella, who directed the study and heads the Center on Media and Human Development in the School of Communication. “The big question is what these disparities mean for our children’s health and education.”

Read more here.

Share of Minority Science and Engineering Degrees Has Declined

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1 year ago
by admin in
New Report

New Report

More than four decades since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, minority academic institutions still enroll a substantial number of minority students, but the percentage of minorities earning bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering (S&E) from minority-serving institutions has declined over time, according to a new report from the National Science Foundation (NSF), ScienceDaily reports.

The number of Hispanic graduates are among the lowest.

Only 35% of Hispanics attend college, versus 53% of blacks and 68% of whites. Only 12% of Hispanics graduate, versus 19% of blacks and 37% of whites. Overall, underrepresented minorities are less likely than whites to attend college or to graduate.

About 26% of blacks earned S&E bachelor’s degrees from historically black colleges and universities in 2000, compared to only 20% in 2008.

Read the full report here.

Hispanics, Other Minorities Less Likely to Get Treatment for Depression

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

The percentage of white adolescents who received any major depression treatment was higher (40%) than blacks (32%), Hispanics (31%), and Asians (19%), according to a new study.

Black, Hispanic, and Asian adolescents were also significantly less likely than whites to receive treatment for major depression from mental health professionals or medical providers, and to have any mental health outpatient visits (all after adjusting for demographics and health status).

The adjustment for socioeconomic status and health insurance status accounted for only a small portion of the estimated differences in major depression treatment measurements and outpatient utilization across racial/ethnic groups.

Other factors, such as stigma and limited proficiency in English, possibly contributed to the lower rates of service use in Hispanics and Asians.

In a study in the February 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers from Emory in Atlanta, Georgia evaluated a national representative sample of 7,704 adolescents ages 12-17 who were diagnosed with major depression in the past year.

“Investment in quality improvement programs implemented in primary care settings as well as school-based mental health services may reduce unmet need for mental health services in all adolescents with major depression and reduce the sizeable differences in service use across racial/ethnic groups,” study researchers said in a press release.

Latina, Black Women Face Delays in Breast Cancer Treatment

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1 year ago
by admin in

Black and Hispanic women newly diagnosed with breast cancer often face delays in care of more than a month, a large study has found, according to a news report.

The study, which appears in the February issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, found that 62.4% of African-American women and 59.3% of Hispanic women received a diagnosis of stage II or stage III breast cancer compared with 48.9 percent of white women.

Delays in treatment were apparent in the new study, as African-American and Hispanic women had higher risks of 30-, 60- and 90-day delays compared to white women.

The risk of a 60-day treatment delay was 76% higher among black patients with private insurance than that of white patients with comparable insurance.

Hispanics with private insurance had a 57% higher risk of a 60-day delay than whites.

Peter Ravdin, M.D., director of the Breast Health Clinic at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, said that although the “diagnosis of breast cancer is not an absolute day-by-day emergency,” clinicians try to see that patients start therapy as quickly as possible.

“Certainly sometimes, unfortunately, access to the health care system is an issue,” Ravdin said. “However, most women want to get a positive course of action started as soon as it is safe, and most health care teams try to see that such therapy starts as soon as all the information needed for treatment planning is available.”

41% of New York City Pregnancies End in Abortion; Higher Rates for Latinos, Blacks

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1 year ago
by admin in

About 41% of all New York City pregnancies end in abortion, and the number is even higher among minorities, according to statistics from the city’s health department, WABC-TV reports.

In 2009:

  • Blacks had a 59.8% abortion rate.
  • Hispanics had a 41.3% abortion rate.
  • Asians had a 22.7% abortion rate.
  • And non-Hispanic Whites had a 20.4% abortion rate.

Watch the full TV news report on the new statistics here or below:

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