Health disparities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Health disparities - Research Paper Example ANs had a shorter life expectancy than the general population and constantly suffered from increased prevalence of disease such as rheumatic fever and tuberculosis (US Public Health Service 17). This paper will examine health disparities among AI/ANs, discussing the degree to which current health care system are meeting the health needs of this underserved population. Following advances in public health and medical care systems over the last half century, the AI/AN population has also transitioned with the rest of the population from a period of pandemics primarily of infectious diseases to one of degenerative, as well as lifestyle diseases. This progression has enhanced the recognition of health disparities encountered by the AI/AN communities from conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, drug abuse and cancer, which are essentially noninfectious. While epidemiological information regarding the AI/AN population is largely incomplete or prone to inaccuracies chiefly due to racial misclassification in official records, a vast majority of the comparisons with non-Native populations are extremely dramatic. For example, among AI/AN adults who utilized Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities in 2002, the age-adjusted incidence of diabetes was approximately 15.3%. This is significantly greater than the 7.3% incidence among all American adul ts (Kunitz 163). The rate of heart disease has traditionally been lower among Native Americans than among the white population. However, this trend is rapidly reversing since heart disease is currently the leading cause of death among the AI/AN population. In addition, deaths from violence and unintentional injuries are a substantive problem among native communities. Between 1996 and 1998, the age-adjusted death prevalence among AI/ANs across the US was nearly twice that of the population of other races in the US. The death rate for unintentional injuries, on the other hand, was at least thrice that of the rest of the US