Nurses are lifelines for mothers-to-be, helping recognize complications early during labor and delivery. Maternal health for Latinas could improve even further with a more diverse nurse workforce, according to a new study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Researchers found that Latinas who gave birth in states with the highest proportion of minority nurses experienced a 31% reduced risk of severe adverse maternal health outcomes, including eclampsia, blood transfusion, hysterectomy, or intensive care unit admission. Why might this be? Researchers believe that if the nurse workforce more closely resembled the diversity of patients, there could be a reduction in provider implicit bias, or subconscious preferences for white patients over those of color. “A ...
As America continues to struggle with COVID-19 variants, a monkeypox outbreak has reached almost every state. Monkeypox – a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus, which causes similar-but-milder symptoms than smallpox – began appearing in countries where it is not endemic in May 2022. The virus has since spread globally with more than 16,000 cases in over 75 countries. Given the disease’s rapid spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a global emergency on July 23, 2022. The Biden Administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency in the U.S. on Aug. 4, 2022. Here’s what you need to know. Update 8/5/22: Monkeypox case numbers from the CDC.
Where is Monkeypox Spreading in the US?
Monkeypox cases have risen to 7,102 ...
Prior to the pandemic (2007-2016), Latinas had a comparable maternal mortality rate to White women, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. However, a new analysis from the University of Maryland and Boston University suggests that Latinas now bear a higher maternal mortality rate compared to white women, a trend not seen in over a decade. The Latina maternal mortality rate rose an alarming 74.2% from 2018-March 2020, when the pandemic began, to April-December 2020, according to the study, published in JAMA Network Open. In comparison, White women’s maternal mortality rate rose just 17.2% during the same time. “For the first time in more than a decade, the maternal mortality rate for Hispanic women during the pandemic was higher than that for non-Hispanic white women, a ...
You’re not imagining it – it is very hot out there. Heat waves swept the nation beginning in early June 2022, putting more than 50 million people under excessive heat warnings and breaking or tying record-high temperatures in more than 25 major cities, according to NPR. For pregnant women, these severely hot temperatures could increase the risk of miscarriage, according to a new study at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH). Researchers found that pregnant people in North America had a 44% higher risk of an early miscarriage (within eight weeks of pregnancy) in the summer months, particularly in late August compared to February. This trend was similar during any week of pregnancy, where risk of miscarriage was 31% higher in late August compared to ...
We all know that some viruses make us sick, like norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea; rhinovirus, which causes the common cold; and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But how do these viruses make us sick? What happens when a virus gets into the body? Our bodies are made up of billions of microscopic building blocks, called cells. On the outside of our cells, there are tiny parts that stick out. Those tiny parts are made of proteins that act like a lock on a door. If you have the right “key” for the “lock,” then you can get into the cell. Some virus cells can have tiny parts that stick out on their outsides, too. Those tiny parts can work like a “false key” that can fit the “lock” to some types of our bodies’ cells. It’s not an exact ...
Latino or Hispanic-serving colleges and universities have risen 94% in the last 10 years, from 293 in 2010 to 569 in 2020, according to a recent report by Excelencia in Education. Now 20 of the largest Latino-serving colleges are forming a new alliance to double Latino doctorates and increase the number of Latino professors by 20% by 2030. The Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities, announced June 2022, aims to help increase Latino representation in higher education. Latinos make up less than 6% of US doctoral students and only 5% of college faculty. “Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States and are now 17% of the workforce, yet they continue to be underrepresented in higher education,” Dr. Heather Wilson, Chair of the Alliance, said in a news ...
Ventilation is the movement of air in and out of spaces. Good ventilation can help remove things from the air that we don’t want to breathe in, such as chemicals and dust – and small virus particles released by someone who is infected with a respiratory virus, like SARS-CoV-2. “The fewer virus particles in the air, the less likely you are to breathe them in, or that the virus particles will land on your eyes or a surface that you might touch,” said Dr. Abigail Carlson, an infectious diseases physician with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), as part of CDC Project Firstline’s Inside Infection Control video series.
The Importance of Air Changes
Good ventilation involves air changes, which means that the air in a room is replaced with new or filtered ...
Have you ever wondered how where you live affects your life expectancy? Now you can find out thanks to the first comprehensive, US county-level life expectancy estimates. The analysis, published in Lancet by researchers at the University of Washington and others, estimates life expectancy for five racial/ethnic groups, including Latinos, in 3,110 US counties over 20 years (2000-2019). Let’s explore what the study found about Latino life.
What Is Latino Life Expectancy?
Nationally, the study revealed that life expectancy for Latinos increased an average of 2.7 years – from 79.5 years in 2000 to 82.2 years in 2019 – during the 20-year study period. This increase in life expectancy was larger than average (2.3 years) and the highest life expectancy nationally and across ...
The cost of childcare in the US has skyrocketed – up to 46% – since 2018, and the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame. At the same time, Americans are also struggling to afford baby formula, menstrual hygiene products, gas, and groceries. Women, especially low-income women, are most affected by rising childcare costs. Women of nearly all races and ethnicities experience higher rates of poverty than men, with the highest rates among minority women, such as Latinas, according to the Center for American Progress. While Latinas represent 18.1% of all women in the US population, they constitute 27.1% of women in poverty.
What Does Rising Childcare Costs Mean for Latinas?
The cost of childcare, which is rising in nearly all states due to pandemic worker shortages and childcare ...
