Hispanic women experience disparity in health

Inequalities in women's health care in Illinois
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

A new snapshot of women’s health in Illinois describes significant inequalities for African-American and Hispanic women—a finding that’s not surprising but is troubling nonetheless.

The Illinois profile was published today by the Kaiser Family Foundation as part of a national report on racial and ethnic disparities in women’s health.

The report is based on data from two federal surveys spanning the years 2003 to 2005. It applies to women 18 to 64 years old. Though the information was collected several years ago, there’s no reason to believe the trends it describes are out of date.

The findings highlight problematic health differences for black and Hispanic women in Illinois compared with white women:

Hispanic women were four times more likely to describe themselves as being in fair or poor health (34.3 percent) than white women (8.4 percent) in Illinois.

African-American women were almost three times as likely to have cardiovascular disease (4.4 percent) as white women (1.6 percent). Cardiovascular disease includes heart attacks, angina, heart disease and stroke.

Of every 100,000 African-American women in Illinois, 217.1 died of cancer in the time period studied, compared with 165.8 white women.

Hispanic women are three times as likely to have diabetes (8.9 percent) as white women (2.8 percent).

An astonishing 36 out of every 100,000 African-American women contracted AIDS in Illinois between 2003 and 2005, compared with 1.5 white women per 100,000.

An alarming 43.7 percent of Hispanic women reported going without a dental checkup in the last two years, compared with 33.4 percent of African-Americans and 22.4 percent of whites.

More Hispanic women (34.1 percent) and African-American women (24.7 percent) lack health insurance, compared with white women (11 percent). Similarly, more than twice as many minority women in Illinois (25.8 percent) are living in poverty as white women (10.3 percent).

The source of inequalities is the usual suspects -- poverty, stress, poor education, low income, social and cultural differences and impaired access to care. Studies show attitudes about race can also play a role in medical disparities.

The disadvantages aren’t all on the minority side. White women were more likely to report serious psychological distress (16.4 percent) compared with African-Americans (13 percent) and Hispanics (11.8 percent). They were also more likely to smoke (24.4 percent) compared with minority women (16 percent) and more likely to go without routine medical checkups in the past two years (15.3 percent) than minority women (10.8 percent).

If nothing else, the data remind us of how much work remains to be done to eliminate inequality and help all women lead healthy, productive lives.