Does Ethnicity Affect Health?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Does ethnicity affect health? Across the country,

people in some racial and ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of poor health and disease for a range of health conditions

, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, heart disease, cancer, and preterm birth, when compared to their White counterparts.

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How does ethnicity relate to health?

In spite of significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of most chronic diseases, there is evidence that

racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower quality of care than nonminorities

and that, patients of minority ethnicity experience greater morbidity and mortality from various chronic diseases than …

How does race and ethnicity influence health?

The data show that racial and ethnic minority groups, throughout the United States, experience higher rates of illness and death across a wide range of health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and heart disease, when compared to their White counterparts.

Is ethnicity a determinant of health?

What race has the most health disparities?


African Americans

have the highest mortality rate for all cancers combined compared with any other racial and ethnic group. There are 11 infant deaths per 1,000 live births among Black Americans.

How does culture affect health?

The influence of culture on health is vast. It affects perceptions of health, illness and death, beliefs about causes of disease, approaches to health promotion, how illness and pain are experienced and expressed, where patients seek help, and the types of treatment patients prefer.

Do minorities have less access to healthcare?


Minority Americans Have Lower Rates of Insurance Coverage and Less Access to Care

Lack of health insurance is linked to less access to care and more negative care experiences for all Americans. Hispanics and African Americans are most at risk of being uninsured.

How does ethnicity affect health inequalities?


Race reduces health disparities to biological factors, thereby marginalising the social forces that are overwhelmingly the main causes for health inequalities among different groups

. Focusing on race directs attention at individuals rather than unequal social relationships that cause ill health.

What are the 5 health disparities?

  • Mortality.
  • Life expectancy.
  • Burden of disease.
  • Mental health.
  • Uninsured/underinsured.
  • Lack of access to care.

Why is race important in Medicine?

Race continues to permeate medical teaching and clinical decision making and treatment in multiple ways, including: (1)

through providers’ attitudes and implicit biases, (2) disease stereotyping and nomenclature, and (3) clinical algorithms and treatment guidelines

.

What are racial and ethnic disparities in health care?

The Institute of Medicine defines disparities as “

racial or ethnic differences in the quality of health care that are not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences, and appropriateness of intervention

.” Racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive poorer quality care compared with nonminorities, even …

What are the key determinants of health?

  • the social and economic environment,
  • the physical environment, and.
  • the person’s individual characteristics and behaviours.

What determines health?

Health is influenced by many factors, which may generally be organized into five broad categories known as determinants of health:

genetics, behavior, environmental and physical influences, medical care and social factors

. These five categories are interconnected.

Why do minorities have health disparities?

These disparities may stem from many factors, including

accessibility of health care, increased risk of disease from occupational exposure, and increased risk of disease from underlying genetic, ethnic, or familial factors

.

What race uses Medicaid the most?

An estimated

47.3% of Whites, 40.0% of African Americans

, and 30.0% of Native Americans met new eligibility criteria for Medicaid, compared with 81.1% of Asian Americans, 57.0% of Latinos, and 55.1% of individuals of more than 1 race.

Which minority group is at the greatest risk of being uninsured and why?


African American and Hispanic individuals

in the United States are more likely to be uninsured throughout adulthood than non-Hispanic individuals (Kirby and Kaneda 2010). Without insurance, people face considerable barriers in receiving health services.

What are the 4 main influences on health?

Our health is largely determined by the

social, economic, cultural, and physical environments

we live in — everything from where we work and live to our level of education and our access to healthy food and water.

How do cultural differences affect healthcare?

What are the 10 factors that affect health?

How does racial bias affect healthcare?

Racial bias in healthcare

can lead to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) having a harder time accessing healthcare

. This can mean a Person of Color has delays in treatment, leading to worse outcomes.

Why do hospitals ask for race and ethnicity?

Health care organizations should collect information on patients’ race and ethnicity

in order to measure disparities in care

—-and see if they exist in the organization. Identifying and measuring disparities helps organizations initiate programs to improve quality of care.

What causes lack of access to healthcare?

Lack of access to healthcare happens for three main reasons. First,

some people cannot access healthcare because of its cost and their income

. Second, some people cannot access it because they are uninsured. Finally, some people cannot access it because they do not have quality care in their geographic area.

How does ethnicity affect society?

How does social status affect health?

There is evidence that socioeconomic status (SES) affects individual’s health outcomes and the health care they receive.

People of lower SES are more likely to have worse self-reported health,

5 , 6

lower life expectancy,

7

and suffer from more chronic conditions

8 – 11

when compared with those of higher SES

.

Which factor is a negative influence on health?

Negative environmental influences include:

pollutants such as smog and smoke, high crime, poor access to medical care, exposure to diseases

. Your social environment includes your family and other people you come into contact daily.

Which racial ethnic group has the highest rate of uninsurance?

While

White individuals

make up the largest share of the U.S. uninsured population at 47 percent, Black and Hispanic individuals account for disproportionately high shares of this remaining uninsured population.

Why do doctors ask about race?

What is the problem with race-based medicine?

However, Roberts traces race-based medicine to

false assumptions about innate biological differences and to ugly justifications for slavery and medical exploitation

. Today, race-based medicine diverts attention and resources from the social determinants that cause appalling racial gaps in health.

What is race-based healthcare?

How does inequality affect health?

Who is most affected by health disparities?

For example,

low-income people

report worse health status than higher income individuals,

7

and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals experience certain health challenges at increased rates. Figure 2: People of Color Fare Worse than their White Counterparts Across Many Measures of Health Status.

How does ethnicity affect cardiovascular disease?

What are the 6 factors that influence your health?

Health is influenced by a number of factors which exist within the individual and the society. The important factors which determine health are:

1) heredity 2) environment 3) life-style 4) socio – economic conditions 5) health services 6) health related systems

.

What are different factors that affect human health?

There are many different factors that can affect your health. These include things like

housing, financial security, community safety, employment, education and the environment

. These are known as the wider determinants of health.

What is the powerful determinant of human health?

Perhaps the most powerful social determinant of health is

income

. All of us have seen too many patients who could not afford their medications, a healthy diet, or a proper place to live—and how this affected their health status.

Is culture a social determinant of health?

Thus, culture is indispensable and important for addressing inequalities and inequities in health as well as for facilitating culture-sensitive health communication strategies that will ultimately close the gap on the social determinants of health.

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.