Ethnic Dis
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Hispanics have less favorable cardiovascular risk profiles relative to other groups, although little is known regarding variability in risk profiles according to country of origin. Our goal was to examine the association of cardiovascular risk factors with country of origin and acculturation in a cohort of middle-aged Hispanic women. ⋯ There is significant heterogeneity in cardiovascular risk status among middle-aged Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central American and South American women, not explained by acculturation or socioeconomic indicators. These differences may be important for targeting screening and preventive interventions.
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Pressed for time to address competing clinical demands within the brief clinical encounter, primary care clinicians often rely on observations of patients to select topics to address. Use of traditional, complementary, or alternative medicine (TM/CAM) may be an important topic for discussion with a patient, but identification of patients using TM/CAM is problematic. We conducted this study to determine if observable characteristics--among southwestern Hispanic and Native American persons--might suggest to the clinician that a patient is likely to use TM/CAM. ⋯ Rather than attempt to predict TM/CAM use by an individual patient, clinicians may be better served by assuming its use by all, by applying strategies for rapid and effective communications with patients about the topic, by selecting which patients to discuss TM/CAM use with based on clinical circumstances, and/or by gathering information about TM/CAM use as part of routine initial database development.
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There are well-known Black-White disparities in adverse birth outcomes, health behaviors, and chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension. These disparities hold across socioeconomic status and have remained stable for the past 50 years despite efforts to reduce them. ⋯ We review evidence that Black neighborhoods have significantly poorer healthcare facilities staffed by less competent physicians, higher environmental exposures, and poorer built environments than do White neighborhoods, and we argue that these neighborhood disparities are 3 pathways through which segregation contributes to health disparities. We summarize the research needed on the role of segregation in health disparities and emphasize the hypothesis that these may be differences between Whites and segregated Blacks alone.
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Comparative Study
Birthplace and mortality among insured Latinos: the paradox revisited.
We investigated the Latino paradox in a managed care setting and examined the role of birthplace. ⋯ In our managed care setting, the Latino paradox phenomenon varied by birthplace; it was more evident among US-born Latinos. This subgroup experienced lower circulatory, cancer, and all-cause mortality than did non-Latino Whites, despite higher prevalences of current smoking, obesity, and asymptomatic hyperglycemia.
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Comparative Study
Racial/ethnic differences in bystander CPR in Los Angeles, California.
Bystander CPR (BCPR) has been demonstrated to improve rates of return of spontaneous circulation, survival to hospital admission, and quality of life in survivors. While previous studies have shown that African Americans are less likely to receive BCPR than Caucasians even after adjusting for variables such as socioeconomic status, BCPR rates in Latinos have not been reported. ⋯ After adjusting for other variables, Latinos in Los Angeles receive bystander CPR at approximately half the rate of Caucasians.