Socioeconomic Status and Racial and Ethnic Differences in Functional Status Associated with Chronic Diseases

Objectives. This study examined the relationships between wealth and income and selected racial and ethnic differences in health. Methods. Cross-sectional data on a national sample of 9744 men and women aged 51 through 61 from the 1992 Health and Retirement Survey were analyzed to examine the association between socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic differences in functional status among those with hypertension, diabetes, a heart condition, and arthritis. Results. Compared with Whites, African Americans report higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis, while Hispanics report higher rates of hypertension and diabetes and a lower rate of heart conditions. Accounting for differences in education, income, and wealth had little effect on these prevalence differences. In general, among those with chronic diseases, African Americans and Hispanics reported worse function than Whites. This disadvantage was eliminated in every case by controlling for socioeconomic status. Conclusions. While socioeconomic status, including wealth, accounts for much of the difference in functional status associated with these chronic diseases, it plays a relatively small role in explaining differences in the prevalence of chronic disease, possibly reflecting different causal pathways.

Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Awards

We investigated the association between a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 applicant’s self-identified race or ethnicity and the probability of receiving an award by using data from the NIH IMPAC II grant database, the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, and other sources. Although proposals with strong priority scores were equally likely to be funded regardless of race, we find that Asians are 4 percentage points and black or African-American applicants are 13 percentage points less likely to receive NIH investigator-initiated research funding compared with whites. After controlling for the applicant’s educational background, country of origin, training, previous research awards, publication record, and employer characteristics, we find that black applicants remain 10 percentage points less likely than whites to be awarded NIH research funding. Our results suggest some leverage points for policy intervention

Diversity in Academic Biomedicine: An Evaluation of Education and Career Outcomes with Implications for Policy

Currently, the U.S. population is undergoing major racial and ethnic demographic shifts that could affect the pool of individuals interested in pursuing a career in biomedical research. To achieve its mission of improving health, the National Institutes of Health must recruit and train outstanding individuals for the biomedical workforce. In this study, we examined the educational transition rates in the biomedical sciences by gender, race, and ethnicity, from high school to academic career outcomes. Using a number of educational databases, we investigated gender and racial/ethnic representation at typical educational and career milestones en route to faculty careers in biomedicine. We then employed multivariate regression methods to examine faculty career outcomes, using the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Doctorate Recipients. We find that while transitions between milestones are distinctive by gender and race/ethnicity, the transitions between high school and college and between college and graduate school are critical points at which underrepresented minorities are lost from the biomedical pipeline, suggesting some specific targets for policy intervention

The Associations Between Self-Rated Vision and Hearing and Functional Status in Middle Age

Objectives: To describe the correlations between self-reported visual and hearing impairment and an index of global functional status. Design: Multivariate analyses of functional status based on cross sectional data from Wave 1 (1992) of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) controlling for demographic and socioeconomic status, common chronic conditions and general health status. Participants: 9,744 U.S. community-dwelling persons age 51-61 years Main Outcome Measure: A global index of functional status based on self-reported limitations in 11 activities Results: About 12% of respondents rated their vision or hearing as poor. Controlling for demographic factors, socioeconomic status, medical conditions, and general health status, limitations in both vision and hearing were independently correlated with worse functional status. Controlling for income, wealth, education did not greatly reduce the strength of the associations between vision and hearing impairment and function. Conclusions: Visual and hearing impairment appear to have a significant relationship with overall physical functioning in the elderly.