Are Minorities Healthier in 2009 VS. 1999?
Study Funded by the Connecticut Health Foundation Highlights Health Challenges

NEW BRITAIN (Mar. 27, 2009) - The recently released 2009 Connecticut Health Disparities Report funded by the Connecticut Health Foundation reveals disturbing challenges for those making decisions about health and health care. Among them:

• Sixty-two percent of tuberculosis cases in Connecticut occurred among the foreign-born population from 2000-2004, and was 23 times higher for Asians than whites from 2000-2005.
• From 2006-2007, the state's Asian population increased 38.2 percent; the Native Hawaiian or other Pacific islander population increased 29.3 percent; and  the Latino population increased 24.8 percent.

These findings have implications for addressing the state's need for medical interpretation, a major problem that has resulted in costly medical errors, for the state.  (Related CT Health publications:  Medicaid Payments for Medical Interpreters: Implementation Questions and Recommended Action and Medicaid Payments for Medical Interpretation:  How is Medical Interpreter Competency Addressed? at www.cthealth.org.

The report, published by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), compares statewide data on key health and socioeconomic indicators and health access for racial or ethnic minority and other disparity populations with those of whites. 

"Not since the state's public health1999 Multicultural Health Report has there been a comprehensive study to look at whether or not health status has improved for minorities in Connecticut," says CT Health President & CEO Patricia Baker. "Meanwhile major decisions and investments have been made about how and on whom to spend tax dollars."  CT Health has commissioned an additional secondary comparative analysis of 1999 to 2009 DPH reports, which is expected to be released in June. Preliminary findings indicate no significant change in many key categories.

OTHER FINDINGS SHOW:

• Racial and ethnic minority populations accounted for all of the nearly 4 percent growth in preventable hospitalizations from 2000-2006.  Among whites, it decreased three percent.
• Hispanic children had the largest percentage of tooth decay (49.3 percent) among Connecticut kindergarten and third-grade students from 2006-2007. 
• In 2005, African-Americans had the highest hospitalization rate for diabetes and lower-extremity amputation, with 3.8 times the rate of whites for both conditions.  Latinos had 2.3 times the rate of diabetes and 3.1 times the rate of lower extremity hospitalizations compared with whites.

"This data can inform how key health decision-makers plan, evaluate, allocate resources, conduct surveillance, and make public policy," says CT Health Program Officer Elizabeth Krause, who worked with the DPH on this project. "Specifically, this report is a useful tool for public health and health care practitioners, policy-makers, academic researchers, advocates, business and community leaders.

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE DATA
Data is important because, "The ability of Connecticut communities to meet their present and future health needs is greatly diminished without it," says Lorenz J. Finison, Ph.D., researcher and author of CT Health's Community Health Data Scan for Connecticut.  This importance is reflected in the fact that, "There is widespread agreement that cross-agency data collaboration is important," adds Finison. The report also identified other data needs, which include:

• Increased collaboration between local communities and public and private agencies who are committed to providing more in-depth descriptions (and understanding) of residents' health needs and health status.
• More information about health and health-related experiences of Connecticut's Asians, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific islanders, which is often limited by low numbers of reported occurrences.
• Consistent data collection for the state's rural residents, older and young persons, sexual and gender minorities, persons with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, limited English proficient populations, and homeless persons, which would help better understand their health status and needs.

A copy of the full report is available online at http://www.ct.gov/dph/cwp/view.asp?a=3132&q=433794.   For additional information about the foundation, please contact Maryland Grier, communications officer, at 860.224.2200, ext. 32 or at maryland@cthealth.org.

About the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) - www.cthealth.org:  the state's largest independent, nonprofit grant-making foundation dedicated to improving the health of the people of Connecticut through systemic change, program innovation and health policy analysis. Since it was established in July 1999, CT Health has awarded 476 grants totaling $38 million in three priority areas - children's mental health, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, and oral health.