Child health in the United States: Recent trends in racial/ethnic disparities

Abstract

In the United States, race and ethnicity are considered key social determinants of health because of their enduring association with social and economic opportunities and resources. An important policy and research concern is whether the U.S. is making progress toward reducing racial/ethnic inequalities in health. While race/ethnic disparities in infant and adult outcomes are well documented, less is known about patterns and trends by race/ethnicity among children. Our objective was to determine the patterns of and progress toward reducing racial/ethnic disparities in child health. Using nationally representative data from 1998 to 2009, we assessed 17 indicators of child health, including overall health status, disability, measures of specific illnesses, and indicators of the social and economic consequences of illnesses. We examined disparities across five race/ethnic groups (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Asian, and non-Hispanic other). We found important racial/ethnic disparities across nearly all of the indicators of health we examined, adjusting for socioeconomic status, nativity, and access to health care. Importantly, we found little evidence that racial/ethnic disparities in child health have changed over time. In fact, for certain illnesses such as asthma, black–white disparities grew significantly larger over time. In general, black children had the highest reported prevalence across the health indicators and Asian children had the lowest reported prevalence. Hispanic children tended to be more similar to whites compared to the other race/ethnic groups, but there was considerable variability in their relative standing.

America's Churning Races: Race and Ethnic Response Changes between Census 2000 and the 2010 Census

“…Farley and Haaga 2005; Mehta et al 2013). Because they are ubiquitous to life in America, many people assume that a person's race and ethnicity are stable and essential characteristics.…”

Ethnic Disparities in Dental Caries among Six-Year-Old Children in the Netherlands

“…They have a higher risk of being born preterm or postterm, having respiratory allergies, or having an adverse cardiovascular risk profile [Mehta et al, 2013;Gishti et al, 2015;Khanolkar et al, 2015]. Moreover, differences in oral health among ethnic groups have been reported by various studies from the Netherlands and other parts of the world [Truin et al, 2010;Wigen and Wang, 2010;Guarnizo-Herreño and Wehby, 2012;Schuller et al, 2014;Matsuo et al, 2015].…”

A study of health determinants associated with disease prevalence among american children

“…Therefore, an examination of negative children's health outcomes in the United States may be warranted to investigate moderate to severe risk factors which may be associated with specific preventable health issues and disease prevalence rates among American Children. Mehta, Lee, and Ylitalo (2013) found that children residing in both low and middle-income households are more susceptible to preventable diseases, racial and ethnic disparities when seeking quality healthcare, and higher rates of illnesses. Additionally, there may be a growing effort to explore additional factors which may also attribute to poor health among children's groups.…”