Health Disparities

A crisis of mass immigration detention exists in the United States, which is home to the world’s largest immigration detention system. The immigration detention system is legally classified as civil, rather than criminal, and therefore non-punitive. Yet it mimics the criminal incarceration system and holds detained individuals in punitive, prison-like conditions. Within immigration detention centers, there are increasing reports and recognition of civil and human rights abuses, including preventable in-custody deaths.

This special issue focuses attention on physical and mental health disparities within the Asian American community and the work done by researchers and affiliates of the Asian American Center for Disparities Research to understand and alleviate these disparities.

Background/aims:

The past quarter century has seen an explosion of concern about widening health inequities in the United States and worldwide. These inequities are central to the research mission in 2 arenas of public health: social epidemiology and community-engaged interventions. Yet only modest success has been achieved in eliminating health inequities.

Recent reports suggest the importance of associations between residential area characteristics and health status, but most research uses only census data to measure these characteristics. The current research examined the effect of overall neighborhood social environment on 11-year risk of death. On the basis of data, the authors developed a three-component neighborhood social environment scale: 1) commercial stores; 2) population socioeconomic status; and 3) environment/housing.

Objective: To examine race/ethnicity and neighborhood income differences in longitudinal patterns of deterioration in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values among youth (age 10 to 18 years) with type 1 diabetes.

Breastfeeding rates differ among white, black and Hispanic mothers, new American research indicates. This study looked to see if ethnic and racial disparities in breastfeeding could be explained by differences in the use of formula in hospitals, family history of breastfeeding, mother's belief that 'breast is best'; and demographic measures including poverty, education and relationship status.

Objective: A growing body of research suggests that exposure to too much information – particularly contradictory information that characterizes much health-related information – can lead to feeling overwhelmed. This construct has been conflated with fatalistic beliefs that are negatively associated with preventive behaviors.