Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Overview

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Achieving Respiratory Health Equality

Part of the book series: Respiratory Medicine ((RM))

  • 585 Accesses

Abstract

Respiratory health disparities can be defined as significant differences in respiratory health that are closely linked to racial ancestry, social, economic, or environmental differences. Such disparities are highly frequent, since exposure to common and major environmental risk factors for respiratory diseases (tobacco use, indoor and outdoor pollutants, occupational hazards, intravenous drug use, and obesity) differs markedly across demographic groups defined by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics. Once disease develops, variable quality of healthcare across demographic groups can lead to disparities in respiratory morbidity and mortality. Achieving respiratory health equality, defined as the highest level of respiratory health for all people, will require the elimination of existing health disparities. This will mandate a comprehensive approach to address the multiple factors contributing to respiratory health disparities in the United States.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Arias E. United States life tables, 2010. Nat Vital Stat Rep. 2014;63(7):1–63.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC health disparities and inequalities report-United States, 2013. MMWR. 2013;62 Suppl 3:1–183.

    Google Scholar 

  3. LaVeist TA, Gaskin D, Richard P. Estimating the economic burden of racial health inequalities in the United States. Int J Health Serv. 2011;41(2):231–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Celedon JC, Roman J, Schraufnagel DE, Thomas A, Samet J. Respiratory health equality in the United States. The American thoracic society perspective. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2014;11(4):473–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Schraufnagel DE, Blasi F, Kraft M, et al. An official American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society policy statement: disparities in respiratory health. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013;188(7):865–71.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC health disparities and inequalities report—United States. MMWR. 2013;62:93–160.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Passel JS, Cohn DV. U.S. Population Projections: 2005–2050. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Smith LA, Hatcher-Ross JL, Wertheimer R, Kahn RS. Rethinking race/ethnicity, income, and childhood asthma: racial/ethnic disparities concentrated among the very poor. Public Health Rep. 2005;120(2):109–16.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Akinbami LJ, Liu X. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among adults aged 18 and over in the United States, 1998–2009. NCHS Data Brief. 2011;(63):1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  10. American Lung Association. Trends in COPD (Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema): Morbidity and Mortality. American Lung Association Epidemiology and Statistics Unit Research and Health Education Division. 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Akinbami LJ, Moorman JE, Bailey C, et al. Trends in asthma prevalence, health care use, and mortality in the United States, 2001–2010. NCHS Data Brief. 2012;94:1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Forno E, Celedon JC. Health disparities in asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2012;185(10):1033–5.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Akinbami L, Centers for Disease Control, Prevention National Center for Health Statistics. The state of childhood asthma, United States, 1980–2005. Adv Data. 2006;381:1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Lieu TA, Lozano P, Finkelstein JA, et al. Racial/ethnic variation in asthma status and management practices among children in managed medicaid. Pediatrics. 2002;109(5):857–65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Detailed tables for the National Vital Statistics Report (NVSR) “Deaths: Final Data for 2013”. 2013. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/Vitalstatsonline.htm.

  16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Racial/Ethnic disparities and geographic differences in lung cancer incidence—38 States and the District of Columbia, 1998–2006. MMWR. 2010;59(44):1434–8.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Plescia M, Henley SJ, Pate A, Underwood JM, Rhodes K. Lung cancer deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1990–2009. Am J Public Health. 2014;104 Suppl 3:S388–95.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Wisnivesky JP, McGinn T, Henschke C, Hebert P, Iannuzzi MC, Halm EA. Ethnic disparities in the treatment of stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005;171(10):1158–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011–2012. JAMA. 2014;311(8):806–14.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Chen X, Wang R, Zee P, et al. Racial/ethnic differences in sleep disturbances: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Sleep. 2015;38(6):877–88.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Drummond MB, Kirk GD, Astemborski J, et al. Association between obstructive lung disease and markers of HIV infection in a high-risk cohort. Thorax. 2012;67(4):309–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Mani D, Haigentz Jr M, Aboulafia DM. Lung cancer in HIV infection. Clin Lung Cancer. 2012;13(1):6–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Johnson AS, Beer L, Sionean C, et al. HIV infection—United States, 2008 and 2010. MMWR Surveil Summ. 2013;62 Suppl 3:112–9.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Khan AD, Magee E, Grant G, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tuberculosis—United States, 1993–2010. MMWR Surveil Summ. 2013;62 Suppl 3:149–54.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Lonnroth K, Jaramillo E, Williams BG, Dye C, Raviglione M. Drivers of tuberculosis epidemics: the role of risk factors and social determinants. Soc Sci Med. 2009;68(12):2240–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Schechter MS, McColley SA, Silva S, et al. Association of socioeconomic status with the use of chronic therapies and healthcare utilization in children with cystic fibrosis. J Pediatr. 2009;155(5):634–9.e1–4.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Soto GJ, Martin GS, Gong MN. Healthcare disparities in critical illness. Crit Care Med. 2013;41(12):2784–93.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 1999–2013 incidence and mortality web-based report. Atlanta, GA: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Cancer Institute; 2016. http://www.cdc.gov/uscs.

  29. World Health Organization. Global tuberculosis report. Geneva: WHO; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  30. World Health Organization. Chronic respiratory diseases, asthma. Geneva: WHO; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Cochran SD, Bandiera FC, Mays VM. Sexual orientation-related differences in tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure among US adults aged 20 to 59 years: 2003–2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(10):1837–44.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Blosnich JR, Lee JG, Bossarte R, Silenzio VM. Asthma disparities and within-group differences in a national, probability sample of same-sex partnered adults. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(9):e83–7.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Gonzales G, Blewett LA. National and state-specific health insurance disparities for adults in same-sex relationships. Am J Public Health. 2014;104(2):e95–104.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. Walter R, Gottlieb DJ, O’Connor GT. Environmental and genetic risk factors and gene-environment interactions in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive lung disease. Environ Health Perspect. 2000;108 Suppl 4:733–42.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, Health Promotion Office on Smoking Health. The Health Consequences of Smoking-50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Snyder K, Vick JH, King BA. Smoke-free multiunit housing: a review of the scientific literature. Tob Control. 2015;25(1):9–20.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Current cigarette smoking among adults—United States, 2005–2013. Atlanta: CDC; 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Murphy JM, Mahoney MC, Hyland AJ, Higbee C, Cummings KM. Disparity in the use of smoking cessation pharmacotherapy among Medicaid and general population smokers. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2005;11(4):341–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Hill S, Amos A, Clifford D, Platt S. Impact of tobacco control interventions on socioeconomic inequalities in smoking: review of the evidence. Tob Control. 2014;23(e2):e89–97.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Boehmer TK, Foster SL, Henry JR, et al. Residential proximity to major highways—United States, 2010. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2013;62 Suppl 3:46–50.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Bell ML, Ebisu K. Environmental inequality in exposures to airborne particulate matter components in the United States. Environ Health Perspect. 2012;120(12):1699–704.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Salo PM, Arbes Jr SJ, Crockett PW, Thorne PS, Cohn RD, Zeldin DC. Exposure to multiple indoor allergens in US homes and its relationship to asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;121(3):678–84. e672.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Beck AF, Huang B, Simmons JM, et al. Role of financial and social hardships in asthma racial disparities. Pediatrics. 2014;133(3):431–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Blanc PD, Iribarren C, Trupin L, et al. Occupational exposures and the risk of COPD: dusty trades revisited. Thorax. 2009;64(1):6–12.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical abstract of the United States: 2006. 125th ed. Washington, DC; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  46. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Respiratory Disease Studies. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Work-related lung disease surveillance report 2002. Cincinnati: NIOSH; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Samet JM, Kutvirt DM, Waxweiler RJ, Key CR. Uranium mining and lung cancer in Navajo men. N Engl J Med. 1984;310(23):1481–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Des Jarlais DC, Bramson HA, Wong C, et al. Racial/ethnic disparities in HIV infection among people who inject drugs: an international systematic review and meta-analysis. Addiction. 2012;107(12):2087–95.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  49. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity in the United States, 2009–2010. NCHS data brief no 82. Hyattsville: National Center for Health Statistics; 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Malhotra A, Orr JE, Owens RL. On the cutting edge of obstructive sleep apnoea: where next? Lancet Respir Med. 2015;3(5):397–403.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  51. Dixon AE, Holguin F, Sood A, et al. An official American Thoracic Society Workshop report: obesity and asthma. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2010;7(5):325–35.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Choudhry S, Ung N, Avila PC, et al. Pharmacogenetic differences in response to albuterol between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans with asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005;171(6):563–70.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Smedley B, Smith A, Nelson A. Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine of the National Academies; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Weissman JS, Stern R, Fielding SL, Epstein AM. Delayed access to health care: risk factors, reasons, and consequences. Ann Intern Med. 1991;114(4):325–31.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Flores G, Abreu M, Olivar MA, Kastner B. Access barriers to health care for Latino children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152(11):1119–25.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Dougherty D, Chen X, Gray DT, Simon AE. Child and adolescent health care quality and disparities: are we making progress? Acad Pediatr. 2014;14(2):137–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Fowler RA, Noyahr LA, Thornton JD, et al. An official American Thoracic Society systematic review: the association between health insurance status and access, care delivery, and outcomes for patients who are critically ill. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;181(9):1003–11.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  58. Slatore CG, Au DH, Gould MK. American Thoracic Society Disparities in Healthcare G. An official American Thoracic Society systematic review: insurance status and disparities in lung cancer practices and outcomes. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;182(9):1195–205.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Okelo SO, Wu AW, Merriman B, Krishnan JA, Diette GB. Are physician estimates of asthma severity less accurate in black than in white patients? J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22(7):976–81.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  60. Hardie G, Liu R, Darden J, Gold WM. Ethnic differences in methacholine responsiveness and word descriptors in African Americans, Hispanic-Mexican Americans, Asian-Pacific Islanders, and Whites with mild asthma. J Asthma. 2010;47(4):388–96.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Alicea-Alvarez N, Swanson-Biearman B, Kelsen SG. A review of barriers to effective asthma management in Puerto Ricans: cultural, healthcare system and pharmacogenomic issues. J Asthma. 2014;51(1):97–105.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Le TT, Bilderback A, Bender B, et al. Do asthma medication beliefs mediate the relationship between minority status and adherence to therapy? J Asthma. 2008;45(1):33–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. McQuaid EL, Vasquez J, Canino G, et al. Beliefs and barriers to medication use in parents of Latino children with asthma. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2009;44(9):892–8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  64. Kale MS, Federman AD, Krauskopf K, et al. The association of health literacy with illness and medication beliefs among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. PLoS One. 2015;10(4):e0123937.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  65. Harrington KF, Zhang B, Magruder T, Bailey WC, Gerald LB. The impact of parent’s health literacy on pediatric asthma outcomes. Pediatr Allergy Immunol Pulmonol. 2015;28(1):20–6.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  66. Kalichman SC, Eaton L, Kalichman MO, Cherry C. Medication beliefs mediate the association between medical mistrust and antiretroviral adherence among African Americans living with HIV/AIDS. J Health Psychol. 2015. pii:1359105315600239 [Epub ahead of print].

    Google Scholar 

  67. Born W, Greiner KA, Sylvia E, Butler J, Ahluwalia JS. Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about end-of-life care among inner-city African Americans and Latinos. J Palliat Med. 2004;7(2):247–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

Funding: Dr. Celedón’s contribution was funded by grants HL079966, HL117191, and HL119952 from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and by The Heinz Endowments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Juan P. Wisnivesky MD, DrPH

  2. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Johns Hopkins University, 5501 Hopkins Bayview Circle, JHAAC 3B37, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224, United States

    Kristin Riekert PhD

  3. Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 4401 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224, USA

    Juan Carlos Celedón MD, DrPH

Authors
  1. Juan P. Wisnivesky MD, DrPH
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kristin Riekert PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Juan Carlos Celedón MD, DrPH
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kristin Riekert PhD or Juan Carlos Celedón MD, DrPH .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy, and Immunology, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Juan Carlos Celedón

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Wisnivesky, J.P., Riekert, K., Celedón, J.C. (2017). Overview. In: Celedón, J. (eds) Achieving Respiratory Health Equality. Respiratory Medicine. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43447-6_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43447-6_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43445-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43447-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation