Place, Not Race: Disparities Dissipate In Southwest Baltimore When Blacks And Whites Live Under Similar Conditions

Much of the current health disparities literature fails to account for the fact that the nation is largely segregated, leaving racial groups exposed to different health risks and with variable access to health services based on where they live. We sought to determine if racial health disparities typ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health Affairs 2011-10, Vol.30 (10), p.1880-1887
Main Authors: LaVeist, Thomas, Pollack, Keshia, Thorpe, Roland, Fesahazion, Ruth, Gaskin, Darrell
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
African Americans
Age
Baltimore, Maryland
Blacks
Blood pressure
Diabetes
Environmental health
Ethnic Groups
Expenditures
Health
Health Behavior
Health care access
Health care policy
Health Care Services
Health disparities
Health insurance
Health risk assessment
Health risks
Health services
Hypertension
Illness
Indigent care
Inequality
Interviews
Low income groups
Medical research
Medical service
Minority & ethnic groups
Neighborhoods
Nutrition
Obesity
Polls & surveys
Population
Questionnaires
Race
Racial Differences
Segregation
Socioeconomic factors
Studies
White people
Whites
Women
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Summary:Much of the current health disparities literature fails to account for the fact that the nation is largely segregated, leaving racial groups exposed to different health risks and with variable access to health services based on where they live. We sought to determine if racial health disparities typically reported in national studies remain the same when black and white Americans live in integrated settings. Focusing on a racially integrated, low-income neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore, Maryland, we found that nationally reported disparities in hypertension, diabetes, obesity among women, and use of health services either vanished or substantially narrowed. The sole exception was smoking: We found that white residents were more likely than black residents to smoke, underscoring the higher rates of ill health in whites in the Baltimore sample than seen in national data. As a result, we concluded that racial differences in social environments explain a meaningful portion of disparities typically found in national data. We further concluded that when social factors are equalized, racial disparities are minimized. Policies aimed solely at health behavior change, biological differences among racial groups, or increased access to health care are limited in their ability to close racial disparities in health. Such policies must address the differing resources of neighborhoods and must aim to improve the underlying conditions of health for all. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0278-2715
2694-233X
1544-5208
2694-233X
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0640