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Showing results for tags 'Health Disparities'.
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Content ArticleThe report highlights that countries need to take urgent action to address the inequities in health caused by unjust and unfair factors within health systems. These factors—which account for many of the differences in health outcomes between persons with and without disabilities—can take the form of: negative attitudes of healthcare providers, health information in formats that cannot be understood, or difficulties accessing a health centre due to the physical environment, lack of transport or financial barriers. 9789240063600-eng.pdf
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Poorer women in UK have sixth-highest cancer death rates in Europe, WHO finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Poorer women in Britain have some of the highest death rates from cancer in Europe, an in-depth new World Health Organization study has found. They are much more likely to die from the disease compared with better-off women in the UK and women in poverty in many other European countries. Women in the UK from deprived backgrounds are particularly at risk of dying from cancer of the lungs, liver, bladder and oesophagus (foodpipe), according to the research by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the WHO’s specialist cancer body. IARC experts led by Dr Salvatore Vaccarella analysed data from 17 European countries, looking for socioeconomic inequalities in mortality rates for 17 different types of cancer between 1990 and 2015. Out of the 17 countries studied, Britain had the sixth-worst record for the number of poor women dying of cancer. It had the worst record for oesophageal cancer, fourth worst for lung and liver cancer and seventh worst for breast and kidney cancer. However, the UK has a better record on poor men dying of cancer compared with their counterparts in many of the other 16 countries. It ranked fifth overall, second for cancer of the larynx and pharynx, and third for lung, stomach and colon cancer. That stark gender divide is most likely because women in the UK began smoking in large numbers some years after men did so, the researchers believe. They pointed to the fact that while cases of lung cancer have fallen among men overall in Britain, they have remained stable or increased among women, and gone up among women from deprived backgrounds. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 November 2022 -
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‘Staggering’ rise in restraint of black people in mental healthcare
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The rate of people from black backgrounds being restrained in mental healthcare has more than doubled in the past six years, widening the gap with other racial groups, according to official NHS data. Standardised rates of black and black British people subject to restrictive interventions – including physical, chemical and mechanical restraints – have leapt from 52.1 per 100,000 people in 2016-17 to 106.2 in 2021-22. That is compared to a much smaller increase of 30% in the same period for people from white backgrounds, from 15.8 per 100,000 to 20.5. NHS race and health observatory director Habib Naqvi told HSJ he was “very concerned” at the rise. He said a “range of complex causes are likely to be presented to account for this pattern”, including disparities in care pathways, late presentation and lack of timely diagnosis, and general overuse of restrictive practice on people from minority ethnic backgrounds. He added: “It is critical we also focus on ‘causes of the causes’ of these disparities, including the impact of discrimination and bias on access, experience and therefore outcomes of mental health services.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 November 2022 -
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Content ArticleAndy was joined by a panel of respondents: Jordan Cummins, Programme Director of Health, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Dr Ricky Kanabar, Assistant Professor of Social Policy, University of Bath Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow, Institute for Government. The event was chaired by Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation.
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News ArticleVoices offer lots of information. Turns out, they can even help diagnose an illness — and researchers in the USA are working on an app for that. The National Institutes of Health is funding a massive research project to collect voice data and develop an AI that could diagnose people based on their speech. Everything from your vocal cord vibrations to breathing patterns when you speak offers potential information about your health, says laryngologist Dr. Yael Bensoussan, the director of the University of South Florida's Health Voice Center and a leader on the study. "We asked experts: Well, if you close your eyes when a patient comes in, just by listening to their voice, can you have an idea of the diagnosis they have?" Bensoussan says. "And that's where we got all our information." Someone who speaks low and slowly might have Parkinson's disease. Slurring is a sign of a stroke. Scientists could even diagnose depression or cancer. The team will start by collecting the voices of people with conditions in five areas: neurological disorders, voice disorders, mood disorders, respiratory disorders and pediatric disorders like autism and speech delays. This isn't the first time researchers have used AI to study human voices, but it's the first time data will be collected on this level — the project is a collaboration between USF, Cornell and 10 other institutions. The ultimate goal is an app that could help bridge access to rural or underserved communities, by helping general practitioners refer patients to specialists. Long term, iPhones or Alexa could detect changes in your voice, such as a cough, and advise you to seek medical attention. Read full story Source: NPR, 10 October 2022
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Content ArticleThe report's key findings show that: 229 women died during or up to six weeks after the end of their pregnancies in 2018 – 2020 from pregnancy-specific causes or conditions made worse by pregnancy, an increase of 24% compared to 2017-2019.Taking into account their surviving babies and previous children, 366 motherless children remain. Of the 229 women who died during or up six weeks after the end of their pregnancies, nine women died from COVID-19. Of those nine women, five were Asian women and three were Black women. Changes to maternity services and pressures because of the pandemic also contributed to some other maternal deaths. Black women were 3.7 times more likely to die compared to White women and Asian women were 1.8 times more likely to die compared to White women. A further 289 women died between six weeks and one year after the end of pregnancy. Including the deaths of 18 women who died during pregnancy or up to six weeks after pregnancy which were classified as coincidental, in total, there were 536 maternal deaths among 2,101,829 maternities. One in nine of the women who died had experienced severe and multiple disadvantage. The main elements of a multiple disadvantage were: a mental health diagnosis; substance misuse; and domestic abuse. The report notes that the figures reported are likely to be a minimum estimate due to inconsistencies in reporting these types of disadvantage. Women were three times more likely to die by suicide during or up to six weeks after the end of pregnancy in 2020 compared to the 2017 – 2019 report. Maternal suicide was also a leading cause of death in women between six weeks and a year of their pregnancies ending, accounting for 18% of the women who died between 2018 and 2020. At least half of the women who died by suicide and the majority from substance misuse had multiple adversity with a history of childhood and/or adult trauma frequently reported. Cardiovascular disorders and psychiatric disorders are now equally responsible for maternal deaths in the UK, accounting for 30% of the women who died up to six weeks after the end of pregnancy; in previous reports, cardiovascular disorders have been reported as the leading direct cause of maternal death. 86% of the women died in the postnatal period. The report demonstrates that even when the women who died as a result from COVID-19 are excluded, the number of women who died has still increased by 19% compared to 2017 – 2019, suggesting that an even greater focus on the report's recommendations for improvements to maternal healthcare are needed.
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Content ArticleKey points A strong and effective ICS will have a deep understanding of all the people and communities it serves. The insights and diverse thinking of people and communities are essential to enabling ICSs to tackle health inequalities and the other challenges faced by health and care systems. The creation of statutory ICS arrangements brings fresh opportunities to strengthen work with people and communities, building on existing relationships, networks and activities.
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Content ArticleKey findings Before the pandemic, the White group had higher rates of elective procedures overall than the Black, Mixed and Asian groups, with the White group having almost a fifth more procedures than the Asian group per head of population. Cardiac and cataract procedure rates were highest in the Asian group and dental procedure rates were highest in the Black group. Procedure rates during the first year of the pandemic fell in all groups, with the NHS carrying out around 2.7 million fewer operations and tests in that year compared with the year before. However, the falls in activity were not uniform across the different ethnic groups, with the Asian group experiencing the largest overall fall in the first year of the pandemic compared with the other groups (a fall of 49% for all procedures compared with 44% for the White and Black groups). This means that if the proportional fall in activity was the same for the Asian group as it was for the White group, we would have expected to see just over 17,000 more procedures for the Asian group. Although the gap narrowed in the second year of the pandemic, there was still a larger deficit of care among the Asian group, with the fall remaining 2% larger for the Asian group than for the White group – an estimated deficit of 6,640 procedures. Apart from the Asian group, consistent differences were not found across procedures for other ethnic minority groups. The Black group did have larger rate falls than the White group for cardiac and cataract procedures (the fall was 19% larger for cataract procedures) but otherwise saw similar changes to the White group, including for all procedures taken together. The most deprived groups in the population experienced larger rate falls overall and for most specific procedure groups. For hip and knee replacements, there was a 13% larger fall in the most deprived group compared with the national change, and a 7% lower fall in the least deprived group. There was no relationship between the fall in elective hospital activity and the local impact of Covid-19 by region (as measured by reported Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 admissions).
