As of 2023, there are 169 million women and 166 million men living in the US.
While men and women share many of the same health risks and concerns, women have their own unique challenges, such as reproductive cancers and maternal health, and are more prone to certain diseases and adverse health conditions.
Women, especially women from racial/ethnic and underserved populations, including Latinas, are exposed to barriers to healthcare resulting in worse health outcomes.
Let’s explore six disparities impacting women’s health in the US.
1. Cancer Screenings
Several cancers affect women more than men, or specifically impact women, such as cervical and ovarian cancers.
This makes cancer screening so important for women. However, women, especially women of color, face a lot of ...
US Latinos and other racial/ethnic minority populations made historic gains in healthcare coverage in the years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to five recent research briefs from the US Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). In the research brief focused on Latinos, research showed that the uninsured rate for nonelderly Latinos decreased from 32.7% to 18% from 2010 to 2022. However, the brief also found that Latinos are more than twice as likely as non-Latino Whites to be uninsured. Let’s further explore health insurance coverage among Latinos.
Latinos Facing Health Barriers
For Latinos, health outcomes are affected by factors like lack of health insurance, language and cultural barriers, and lack of access to care. “Studies ...
In 2020, COVID-19 shut down the world.
People were forced to navigate social isolation, food shortages, business closures, virtual schooling, reduced work hours, and job loss amid the pandemic.
Latino families suffered from some of the highest rates of COVID-related mortality and socioeconomic impacts, worsening Latino health inequities.
With 2020 now several years past, how bad was the pandemic for Latinos?
6 in 10 (62%) Latino households with children experienced at least one material hardship in the form of housing quality, bill-paying, food insecurity, and/or medical hardship in 2020, according to a new report from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families that looks back at the impact of COVID-19 on Latinos. Material Hardship in 2020 amid COVID-19 ...
Every year, 240,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s why healthcare providers recommend women ages 50 to 74 get a mammogram – an X-ray of the breast that can help screen and diagnose cancer – every two years. However, only about 3 in 4 women in that age group has had a mammogram in the past two years, as of 2022, according to a new study by the CDC. For women who experience health-related social needs, even fewer haven’t gotten one. This is alarming because, while mammograms can reduce the number of breast cancer deaths by 22%, this cancer is the top cause of death among Latinas. Let’s explore the social determinants of health (SDoH) that are creating barriers to ...
Cancer is often associated with an aging population, but something is changing in the demographics of cancer survivors — they are younger. There are projected to be 85,980 new cases of cancer in individuals between ages 15 and 39, according to the National Cancer Institute. Decade trends show that this number has been rising an average of 0.3% each year. Even though most young adults and teens with cancer are expected to survive for five years following their diagnosis, researchers are trying to understand why young survivors often face long-term health impacts, such as nerve pain and memory loss. For example, a recent study – using All of Us Research Program data – found that four conditions that affect the brain or nerves were more common in young cancer survivors ...
Alzheimer’s disease is a condition that impairs brain function and, over time, can cause memory, cognitive, and behavioral issues and eventually lead to death.
The condition greatly impacts the health of the aging — especially Latinos.
14% of the American Latino population older than 65 are living with Alzheimer’s, compared with 10% of the White population.
Alzheimer’s is projected to increase in older Latinos by 175% between 2018 and 2040, compared with a 32% increase in the White population, according to a new report, 2024 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, from the Alzheimer’s Association.
Let’s explore the data from the report. Alzheimer’s in America
Nearly 7 million older Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease as of 2024.
That’s about the same ...
The last thing a person wants to hear from their doctor is “You have cancer.” Unfortunately, that’s the reality for the thousands of Americans, including many Latinos, diagnosed with cancer each year. After a diagnosis, people dealing with cancer discuss treatment options with their medical care team, which may include participation in clinical trials. Clinical trials are studies with volunteers that test ways to find, prevent, and treat cancer and other diseases. They may also help improve the quality of life for volunteers affected by cancer or reduce the side effects of treatment. Despite the benefits of participating in clinical trials, only about one out of every five (21.9%) people with cancer enroll in clinical research, according to a new study in the ...
As technology has evolved, so has the way we receive, view, and disseminate information. With the invention of the smart phone and devices like tablets, access to the outside world can be done with the touch of a button. But, as convenient as it is to unlock a phone and type something into the search engine or open an app is, we can’t help but wonder what kind of effect staring at a screen for hours on end is having on our health? The average American between the ages of 16 and 64 spends over seven hours a day online, according to an article by AllConnect. This amount of time is well over the two-hour recommended screen time for adults.
Screen Time by the Numbers
65.7% of the world population is online. During the third quarter of 2023, people spent an ...
COVID-19 “completely erased the mortality advantage” that the Latino population had compared to the White population, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Let’s dive into the new data on Latino mortality.
What Is Excess Mortality?
The Census Bureau refers to excess mortality as deaths from any cause above what is expected from recent mortality trends. Excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the actual mortality rate and the mortality rate expected to see in the hypothetical absence of the COVID-19 pandemic. “An additional 573,000 people died in the United States during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic but ‘excess mortality’ at the national level masks substantial variations by state, age, sex, and race and ethnicity,” ...