Exploring the Association Between Minimum Wage Policy, Income Inequality, and Obesity Rates in US Counties.

Objective: To examine the interaction between minimum wage policy, income inequality, and obesity rates among U.S. counties, and how this relationship is shaped by policy, place, and racial/ethnic composition in a county.

Health Care Expenditures for Black and White US Adults Living Under Similar Conditions.

Importance: Evidence suggests that racial disparities in health outcomes disappear or diminish when Black and White adults in the US live under comparable living conditions; however, whether racial disparities in health care expenditures concomitantly disappear or diminish is unknown.

Objective: To examine whether disparities in health care expenditures are minimized when Black and White US adults live in similar areas of racial composition and economic condition.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used a nationally representative sample of 7062 non-Hispanic Black or White adults who live in 2238 of 2275 US census tracts with a 5% or greater Black population and who participated in the Medical Expenditure Panel Study (MEPS) in 2016.

Racial Disparities in Hypertension Prevalence within US Gentrifying Neighborhoods.

Racial disparities in hypertension remain a persistent public health concern in the US. While several studies report Black-White differences in the health impacts of gentrification, little is known concerning the impact of living in a gentrifying neighborhood on hypertension disparities. Data from the American Community Survey were used to identify gentrifying neighborhoods across the US from 2006 to 2017.

Maryland dentists' perceptions and attitudes toward dental therapy.

Objectives: To learn dentists' perceptions, attitudes, and concerns about the problems of access to oral health care for low income and rural Marylanders and to ascertain whether the dentists believe dental therapy is a viable solution.

Methods: We conducted three focus group discussions of 27 dentists during August and September 2018 in three locations in urban and rural areas of Maryland.

Results: Focus group participants felt that problems with access to dental care for low income and rural Marylander were not due to a shortage of dental providers.

Availability of Health Care Provider Offices and Facilities in Minority and Integrated Communities in the U.S.

Objective: To examine the availability of health care provider offices and facilities in predominantly White, minority, and integrated primary care service areas (PCSA).

Methods: National data from the American Community Survey and InfoUSA, linked at the PCSA-level, for 2005 (N=7,109) and 2014 (N=7,142). Associations between racial composition of PCSAs and numbers of health care offices and facilities were examined using multiple regression models.

No Man is an Island: The Impact of Neighborhood Disadvantage on Mortality.

This study's purpose is to determine if neighborhood disadvantage, air quality, economic distress, and violent crime are associated with mortality among term life insurance policyholders, after adjusting for individual demographics, health, and socioeconomic characteristics. We used a sample of approximately 38,000 term life policyholders, from a large national life insurance company, who purchased a policy from 2002 to 2010. We linked this data to area-level data on neighborhood disadvantage, economic distress, violent crime, and air pollution.

The Maryland Health Enterprise Zone Initiative Reduced Hospital Cost And Utilization In Underserved Communities.

The State of Maryland implemented the Health Enterprise Zone Initiative in 2013 to improve access to health care and health outcomes in underserved communities and reduce health care costs and avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions. In each community the Health Enterprise Zone Initiative was a collaboration between the local health department or hospital and community-based organizations. The initiative was designed to attract primary care providers to underserved communities and support community efforts to improve health behaviors.

Racial disparities in disability among older adults: finding from the exploring health disparities in integrated communities study.

Objective: Persistent and consistently observed racial disparities in physical functioning likely stem from racial differences in social resources and environmental conditions.

Method: We examined the association between race and reported difficulty performing instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in 347 African American (45.5%) and Whites aged 50 or above in the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities-Southwest Baltimore, Maryland Study (EHDIC-SWB).

Community characteristics and mortality: the relative strength of association of different community characteristics.

Objectives: We compared the strength of association between average 5-year county-level mortality rates and area-level measures, including air quality, sociodemographic characteristics, violence, and economic distress.

Methods: . We obtained mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System and linked it to socioeconomic and demographic data from the Census Bureau, air quality data, violent crime statistics, and loan delinquency data.

The Association Between Educational Attainment and Diabetes Among Men in the United States.

Few studies have examined the relationship between education and diabetes among men in the United States and whether this relationship differs by race/ethnicity. This study examined whether racial disparities in diabetes existed by educational attainment in 336,746 non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic men 18 years of age and older in the United States. Logistic regression models were specified to examine the odds of reporting diabetes by educational attainment.

Do diabetic patients living in racially segregated neighborhoods experience different access and quality of care?

Background: Place of residence, particularly residential segregation, has been implicated in health and health care disparities. However, prior studies have not focused on care for diabetes, a prevalent condition for minority populations.

Objective: To examine the association of residential segregation with a range of access and quality of care outcomes among black and Hispanics with diabetes using a nationally representative US sample.

Residential segregation and the availability of primary care physicians.

Objective: To examine the association between residential segregation and geographic access to primary care physicians (PCPs) in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

Data Sources: We combined zip code level data on primary care physicians from the 2006 American Medical Association master file with demographic, socioeconomic, and segregation measures from the 2000 U.S.

Residential segregation and disparities in health care services utilization.

Using data from the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the 2000 Census, the authors explored whether race/ethnic disparities in health care use were associated with residential segregation. They used five measures of health care use: office-based physician visits, outpatient department physician visits, visits to nurses and physician's assistants, visits to other health professionals, and having a usual source of care. For each individual, the authors controlled for age, gender, marital status, insurance status, income, educational attainment, employment status, region, and health status.