Study Links Highly Segregated Counties and Lung Cancer Deaths in BlacksPosted in Articles, Health/Medicine/Genetics, New Media, United States on 2013-01-16 23:41Z by Steven |
Study Links Highly Segregated Counties and Lung Cancer Deaths in Blacks
The New York Times
2013-01-16
Sabrina Tavernise
African-Americans who live in highly segregated counties are considerably more likely to die from lung cancer than those in counties that are less segregated, a new study has found.
The study was the first to look at segregation as a factor in lung cancer mortality. Its authors said they could not fully explain why it worsens the odds of survival for African-Americans, but hypothesized that blacks in more segregated areas may be less likely to have health insurance or access to health care and specialty doctors. It is also possible that lower levels of education mean they are less likely to seek care early, when medical treatment could make a big difference. Racial bias in the health care system might also be a factor…
…Dr. David Chang, director of outcomes research at the University of California San Diego Department of Surgery, who wrote an accompanying editorial, said he hoped that the study would focus attention on the environmental factors involved in the stark disparities in health outcomes in the United States because they lend themselves to change through policy. Medical researchers tend to focus on factors like the genetics and the behaviors of individuals that are harder to change.
“We don’t need drugs or genetic explanations to fix a lot of the health care problems we have,” he said.
Read the entire article here.