Most Comprehensive Study To Date Details Racial Health Disparities in Boston
African-American Boston residents have a "substantially higher" risk of dying from cervical or prostate cancers and are more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, and asthma than non-Hispanic whites, according to a study released June 28 by the Boston Public Health Commission, the Boston Globe reports. Researchers reviewed health outcomes in 20 categories, finding that blacks "fared far worse" than whites in 15 areas. The study, the "most detailed" ever conducted on health disparities in the city, also found:
- Black women die from cervical cancer almost four times more often than white women.
- Black men are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by prostate cancer than white men.
- Blacks have more than twice the rate of diabetes than do whites.
- One in 6 whites has high blood pressure, compared with 1 in 4 blacks.
- Black children are between three and four times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma than are white children.
