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The article focuses on the debut of a series of health policy and its impact on occupational therapy. It notes the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's) objective which is to ensure that the centennial vision's aim of occupational therapy as widely recognized, science-based, and evidence-driven profession is made to fruition with the implementation of health care reform and other related changes.

Objective: To assess whether newborns' insurance coverage was associated with differences in the allocation of hospital services.Design: Retrospective analysis of computerized hospital discharge data, comparing resource allocation among newborns according to insurance status, controlling for race/ethnicity, diagnoses, hospital characteristics (ownership, teaching status, nursery level), and disposition.Setting: All California civilian acute-care hospitals.Patients: Population-based sample, excluding out-of-hospital and military hospital births. Resource allocation was studied among all newborns discharged in 1987 with evidence of serious problems (N = 29,751).Main Outcome Measures: Length of stay, total charges, and charges per day.Results: Sick newborns without insurance received fewer inpatient services than comparable privately insured newborns with either indemnity or prepaid coverage. This pattern was observed across all hospital ownership types. Mean stay was 15.7 days for all privately insured newborns (15.6 days for those with indemnity and 15.7 days for those with prepaid coverage), 14.8 days for Medicaid-covered newborns, and 13.2 days for uninsured newborns (P less than .001). Length of stay, total charges, and charges per day were 16%, 28%, and 10% less, respectively, for the uninsured than for all privately insured newborns (P less than .001). Resources for newborns covered by Medicaid were generally greater than for the uninsured and less than for the privately insured. Both uninsured and Medicaid-covered newborns were found to have more severe medical problems than the privately insured.Conclusions: The findings cannot be explained by differences in medical need or by differences in non-medically indicated services; they constitute prima facie evidence of inequities that need to be addressed by policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the societal statement of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) on health disparities prevailing in the U.S. It mentions the disparities in health status and the access to health and social services on the basis of factors such as ethnicity, socioeconomic and educational status, and discusses how they affect different population groups. It states how occupational therapy practitioners can help in minimizing the effects of health disparities.

Examines the correlation between short hospital discharge and breastfeeding duration in California. Performance of survival analysis; Identification of additional predictors for shorter time for breastfeeding.

The National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Pathways to Prevention panel on postpartum health provides a consensus statement on the evidence, research gaps, and future priorities to prevent maternal morbidity and mortality. The panel reviewed an NIH-commissioned evidence review and workshop that included epidemiologic studies, demonstration interventions, and other maternal morbidity and mortality research to create these national recommendations. The panel concludes that a maternal morbidity and mortality crisis reflects a systemic failure of current U.S. health care, research efforts, and social policies. The panel recommends improving maternal health through a "maternal morbidity and mortality prevention moonshot" that adopts a comprehensive, multilevel life course conceptual framework; strengthens the research methods used within the science of maternal health; establishes and conducts national prevention, treatment, and policy interventions; and reimburses evidence-informed clinical approaches to improve maternal health across the life course. Without a national focus on fundamentally transformative interventions and other initiatives aimed at redressing structural racism and inequities in health care, current interventions and clinical advances in maternal morbidity and mortality prevention will remain tragically insufficient., Competing Interests: Financial Disclosure The authors did not report any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background/objectives: Little is known about the separate or combined effects of state and national nutrition policies regulating food and beverages in schools on child overweight/obesity (OV/OB) and related racial/ethnic disparities. We investigated the influence of school nutrition policies enacted in California, independently and in combination with the United States' national policy "Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act" (HHFKA) on childhood OV/OB and racial/ethnic disparities., Subjects/methods: An interrupted time series design was used with data from 12,363,089 child-level records on 5th- and 7th-graders in California public schools to estimate sex- and racial/ethnic-specific time trends in OV/OB prevalence during three periods: before the California nutrition policies (2002-2004); when only California policies were in effect (2005-2012); and when they were in effect simultaneously with HHFKA (2013-2016)., Results: Before the state's policies, OV/OB prevalence increased annually among children in most subgroups. Improvements in OV/OB trends were observed for almost all groups after the California policies were in effect, with further improvements after the addition of HFFKA. The total change in annual log-odds of OV/OB, comparing the periods with both state and federal policies versus no policies, ranged from -0.08 to -0.01 and varied by grade, sex, and race/ethnicity. Within each sex and grade, the greatest changes were among African-American (-0.08 to -0.02, all p < 0.05) followed by Latino children (-0.06 to -0.01, all p < 0.05). Although disparities narrowed among these groups versus White children after the dual policy period, disparities remained large., Conclusions: State and national nutrition policies for schools may have contributed to containing the upward trend in childhood OV/OB and racial/ethnic OV/OB disparities within California. However, sizable OV/OB prevalence and disparities persist. To end the epidemic, promote healthy weight and increase health equity, future efforts should strengthen state and national policies to improve food quality in schools, particularly those serving populations with the highest OV/OB prevalence., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The concept of "race" emerged in the 1600s with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, justifying slavery; it has been used to justify exploitation, denigration and decimation. Since then, despite contrary scientific evidence, a deeply-rooted belief has taken hold that "race," indicated by, e.g., skin color or facial features, reflects fundamental biological differences. We propose that the term "race" be abandoned, substituting "ethnic group" while retaining "racism," with the goal of dismantling it. Despite scientific consensus that "race" is a social construct, in official U.S. classifications, "Hispanic"/"Latino" is an "ethnicity" while African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, and European American/White are "races." There is no scientific basis for this. Each grouping reflects ancestry in a particular continent/region and shared history, e.g., the genocide and expropriation of Indigenous peoples, African Americans' enslavement, oppression and ongoing disenfranchisement, Latin America's Indigenous roots and colonization. Given migrations over millennia, each group reflects extensive genetic admixture across and within continents/regions. "Ethnicity" evokes social characteristics such as history, language, beliefs, customs. "Race" reinforces notions of inherent biological differences based on physical appearance. While not useful as a biological category, geographic ancestry is a key social category for monitoring and addressing health inequities because of racism's profound influence on health and well-being. We must continue to collect and analyze data on the population groups that have been racialized into socially constructed categories called "races." We must not, however, continue to use that term; it is not the only obstacle to dismantling racism, but it is a significant one., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Braveman and Parker Dominguez.)

Introduction: In 2016, March of Dimes (MOD) launched its Prematurity Collaborative to engage a broad cross section of national experts to address persistent and widening racial disparities in preterm birth by achieving equity and demonstrated improvements in preterm birth. African-American and Native American women continue to have disproportionate rates of preterm birth and maternal death. As part of the Collaborative, MOD created the Health Equity Workgroup whose task was the creation of a scientific consensus statement articulating core values and a call to action to achieve equity in preterm birth utilizing health equity and social determinants of health frameworks., Methods: Health Equity Workgroup members engaged in-person and virtually to discuss key determinant contributors and resolutions for disparate maternal and birth outcomes. Workgroup members then drafted the Birth Equity Consensus Statement that contained value statements and a call to action. The birth equity consensus statement was presented at professional conferences to seek broader support. This article highlights the background and context towards arriving at the core values and call to action, which are the two major components of the consensus statement and presents the core values and call to action themselves., Results: The result was the creation of a birth equity consensus statement that highlights risks and protections of social determinants based on the prevailing science, and identifies promising solutions for reducing preterm birth and eliminating racial disparities., Conclusion: The birth equity consensus statement provides a mandate, guiding the work of March of Dimes and the broader MCH community, for equity-based research, practice, and policy advocacy at local, state, and federal levels., Significance: This field report adds to the current knowledge base on racial and ethnic disparities in birth and maternal health outcomes. Research has documented the science behind eliminating health disparities. Scientists and practitioners should continue to explore in practice how the social determinants of birth and maternal health, which manifest historically and contemporarily, can be addressed.

Objectives: The causes of the large and persistent Black-White disparity in preterm birth (PTB) are unknown. It is biologically plausible that chronic stress across a woman's life course could be a contributor. Prior research suggests that chronic worry about experiencing racial discrimination could affect PTB through neuroendocrine, vascular, or immune mechanisms involved in both responses to stress and the initiation of labor. This study aimed to examine the role of chronic worry about racial discrimination in Black-White disparities in PTB., Methods: The data source was cross-sectional California statewide-representative surveys of 2,201 Black and 8,122 White, non-Latino, U.S.-born postpartum women with singleton live births during 2011-2014. Chronic worry about racial discrimination (chronic worry) was defined as responses of "very often" or "somewhat often" (vs. "not very often" or "never") to the question: "Overall during your life until now, how often have you worried that you might be treated or viewed unfairly because of your race or ethnic group?" Prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were calculated from sequential logistic regression models, before and after adjustment for multiple social/demographic, behavioral, and medical factors, to estimate the magnitude of: (a) PTB risks associated with chronic worry among Black women and among White women; and (b) Black-White disparities in PTB, before and after adjustment for chronic worry., Results: Among Black and White women respectively, 36.9 (95% CI 32.9-40.9) % and 5.5 (95% CI 4.5-6.5) % reported chronic worry about racial discrimination; rates were highest among Black women of higher income and education levels. Chronic worry was significantly associated with PTB among Black women before (PR 1.73, 95% CI 1.12-2.67) and after (PR 2.00, 95% CI 1.33-3.01) adjustment for covariates. The unadjusted Black-White disparity in PTB (PR 1.59, 95%CI 1.21-2.09) appeared attenuated and became non-significant after adjustment for chronic worry (PR 1.30, 95% CI 0.93-1.81); it appeared further attenuated after adding the covariates (PR 1.17, 95% CI 0.85-1.63)., Conclusions: Chronic worry about racial discrimination may play an important role in Black-White disparities in PTB and may help explain the puzzling and repeatedly observed greater PTB disparities among more socioeconomically-advantaged women. Although the single measure of experiences of racial discrimination used in this study precluded examination of the role of other experiences of racial discrimination, such as overt incidents, it is likely that our findings reflect an association between one or more experiences of racial discrimination and PTB. Further research should examine a range of experiences of racial discrimination, including not only chronic worry but other psychological and emotional states and both subtle and overt incidents as well. These dramatic results from a large statewide-representative study add to a growing-but not widely known-literature linking racism-related stress with physical health in general, and shed light on the links between racism-related stress and PTB specifically. Without being causally definitive, this study's findings should stimulate further research and heighten awareness of the potential role of unmeasured social variables, such as diverse experiences of racial discrimination, in racial disparities in health.

Although the terms "health equity" and "health disparities" have become increasingly familiar to health professionals in the United States over the past two decades, they are rarely defined. Federal agencies have often defined "health disparities" in ways that encompass all health differences between any groups. Lack of clarity about the concepts of health disparities and health equity can have serious consequences for how resources are allocated, by removing social justice as an explicit consideration from policy agendas. This paper aims to make explicit what these concepts mean and to discuss what a life-course perspective can contribute to efforts to achieve health equity and eliminate health disparities. Equity means justice. Health equity is the principle or goal that motivates efforts to eliminate disparities in health between groups of people who are economically or socially worse-off and their better-off counterparts-such as different racial/ethnic or socioeconomic groups or groups defined by disability status, sexual orientation, or gender identity-by making special efforts to improve the health of those who are economically or socially disadvantaged. Health disparities are the metric by which we measure progress toward health equity. The basis for these definitions in ethical and human rights principles is discussed, along with the relevance of a life-course perspective for moving toward greater health equity.

"Health disparities" and "health equity" have become increasingly familiar terms in public health, but rarely are they defined explicitly. Ambiguity in the definitions of these terms could lead to misdirection of resources. This article discusses the need for greater clarity about the concepts of health disparities and health equity, proposes definitions, and explains the rationale based on principles from the fields of ethics and human rights.

During the past two decades, the public health community's attention has been drawn increasingly to the social determinants of health (SDH)-the factors apart from medical care that can be influenced by social policies and shape health in powerful ways. We use "medical care" rather than "health care" to refer to clinical services, to avoid potential confusion between "health" and "health care." The World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health has defined SDH as "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age" and "the fundamental drivers of these conditions." The term "social determinants" often evokes factors such as health-related features of neighborhoods (e.g., walkability, recreational areas, and accessibility of healthful foods), which can influence health-related behaviors. Evidence has accumulated, however, pointing to socioeconomic factors such as income, wealth, and education as the fundamental causes of a wide range of health outcomes. This article broadly reviews some of the knowledge accumulated to date that highlights the importance of social-and particularly socioeconomic-factors in shaping health, and plausible pathways and biological mechanisms that may explain their effects. We also discuss challenges to advancing this knowledge and how they might be overcome.

Objectives: We assessed whether it would be feasible to replace the standard measure of net worth with simpler measures of wealth in population-based studies examining associations between wealth and health., Methods: We used data from the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances (respondents aged 25-64 years) and the 2004 Health and Retirement Survey (respondents aged 50 years or older) to construct logistic regression models relating wealth to health status and smoking. For our wealth measure, we used the standard measure of net worth as well as 9 simpler measures of wealth, and we compared results among the 10 models., Results: In both data sets and for both health indicators, models using simpler wealth measures generated conclusions about the association between wealth and health that were similar to the conclusions generated by models using net worth. The magnitude and significance of the odds ratios were similar for the covariates in multivariate models, and the model-fit statistics for models using these simpler measures were similar to those for models using net worth., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that simpler measures of wealth may be acceptable in population-based studies of health.

In the United States, awareness is increasing that medical care alone cannot adequately improve health overall or reduce health disparities without also addressing where and how people live. A critical mass of relevant knowledge has accumulated, documenting associations, exploring pathways and biological mechanisms, and providing a previously unavailable scientific foundation for appreciating the role of social factors in health. We review current knowledge about health effects of social (including economic) factors, knowledge gaps, and research priorities, focusing on upstream social determinants-including economic resources, education, and racial discrimination-that fundamentally shape the downstream determinants, such as behaviors, targeted by most interventions. Research priorities include measuring social factors better, monitoring social factors and health relative to policies, examining health effects of social factors across lifetimes and generations, incrementally elucidating pathways through knowledge linkage, testing multidimensional interventions, and addressing political will as a key barrier to translating knowledge into action.

Background: Cross-sectional research has demonstrated associations between neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics and adolescents' initiation of heterosexual intercourse. Prospective designs are needed to move toward causal inference, and to identify mediating and moderating influences to inform policies and programs., Methods: Among 5,838 nonsexually active participants in wave I (1994-1995) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, multilevel logistic regression analyses were used to predict initiation of sex by wave II (1996); models were stratified by gender and age group (11-14 and 15-17 yr). Predictors measured at wave I included census tract-level (neighborhood) poverty concentration, family-level income, parental education, race/ethnicity, and family structure. Adolescent college aspirations and life expectations were tested as possible mediators or moderators of the neighborhood poverty-sexual initiation association., Results: Neighborhood poverty concentration predicted older (15-17 yr) girls' and boys' sexual initiation, after considering individual-level covariates. However, adolescent college aspirations and life expectations were not found to mediate the prediction relationship. Moderating effects were identified for girls (college aspirations) and boys (positive life expectations) in high-poverty neighborhoods, paradoxically reflecting increased risk., Conclusions: In this longitudinal study, moderating effects generally considered protective against sexual initiation were not protective or were harmful for adolescents living in high-poverty neighborhoods. Subsequent research to understand how to reduce the health risks of living in poor neighborhoods must examine an even wider range of variables and/or use different methodologies., (Copyright © 2010 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

To describe income levels and the prevalence of major hardships among women during or just before pregnancy. We separately analyzed 2002-2006 population-based postpartum survey data from California's Maternal and Infant Health Assessment (n = 18,332) and 19 states participating in CDC's Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (n = 143,452) to examine income and several hardships (divorce/separation, domestic violence, homelessness, financial difficulties, spouse/partner's or respondent's involuntary job loss or incarceration, and, in California only, food insecurity and no social support) during/just before pregnancy. In both samples, over 30% of women were poor (income 400% FPL experienced one or more hardships. These findings paint a disturbing picture of experiences around the time of pregnancy in the United States for many women giving birth and their children, particularly because 60% had previous births. The high prevalence of low income and of serious hardships during pregnancy is of concern, given previous research documenting the adverse health consequences of these experiences and recognition of pregnancy as a critical period for health throughout the life course. Low income and major hardships around the time of pregnancy should be addressed as mainstream U.S. maternal-infant health and social policy issues.

In this article we argue for the utility of the life-course perspective as a tool for understanding and addressing health disparities across socioeconomic and racial or ethnic groups, particularly disparities that originate in childhood. Key concepts and terms used in life-course research are briefly defined; as resources, examples of existing literature and the outcomes covered are provided along with examples of longitudinal databases that have often been used for life-course research. The life-course perspective focuses on understanding how early-life experiences can shape health across an entire lifetime and potentially across generations; it systematically directs attention to the role of context, including social and physical context along with biological factors, over time. This approach is particularly relevant to understanding and addressing health disparities, because social and physical contextual factors underlie socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in health. A major focus of life-course epidemiology has been to understand how early-life experiences (particularly experiences related to economic adversity and the social disadvantages that often accompany it) shape adult health, particularly adult chronic disease and its risk factors and consequences. The strong life-course influences on adult health could provide a powerful rationale for policies at all levels--federal, state, and local--to give more priority to investment in improving the living conditions of children as a strategy for improving health and reducing health disparities across the entire life course.

We explored how different socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups in the United States might fare in an influenza pandemic on the basis of social factors that shape exposure, vulnerability to influenza virus, and timeliness and adequacy of treatment. We discuss policies that might differentially affect social groups' risk for illness or death. Our purpose is not to establish the precise magnitude of disparities likely to occur; rather, it is to call attention to avoidable disparities that can be expected in the absence of systematic attention to differential social risks in pandemic preparedness plans. Policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels should consider potential sources of socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities during a pandemic and formulate specific plans to minimize these disparities.

There is little consensus about the meaning of the terms "health disparities," "health inequalities," or "health equity." The definitions can have important practical consequences, determining the measurements that are monitored by governments and international agencies and the activities that will be supported by resources earmarked to address health disparities/inequalities or health equity. This paper aims to clarify the concepts of health disparities/inequalities (used interchangeably here) and health equity, focusing on the implications of different definitions for measurement and hence for accountability. Health disparities/inequalities do not refer to all differences in health. A health disparity/inequality is a particular type of difference in health (or in the most important influences on health that could potentially be shaped by policies); it is a difference in which disadvantaged social groups-such as the poor, racial/ethnic minorities, women, or other groups who have persistently experienced social disadvantage or discrimination-systematically experience worse health or greater health risks than more advantaged social groups. ("Social advantage" refers to one's relative position in a social hierarchy determined by wealth, power, and/or prestige.) Health disparities/inequalities include differences between the most advantaged group in a given category-e.g., the wealthiest, the most powerful racial/ethnic group-and all others, not only between the best- and worst-off groups. Pursuing health equity means pursuing the elimination of such health disparities/inequalities.

Objectives: This study examined the income distribution of childbearing women in California and sought to identify income groups at increased risk of untimely prenatal care., Methods: A 1994/95 cross-sectional statewide survey of 10,132 postpartum women was used., Results: Sixty-five percent of all childbearing women had low income (0%-200% of the federal poverty level), and 46% were poor (0%-100% of the federal poverty level). Thirty-five percent of women with private prenatal coverage had low income. Most low-income women with Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid) or private coverage received their prenatal care at private-sector sites. Compared with women with incomes over 400% of the poverty level, both poor and near-poor women were at significantly elevated risk of untimely care after adjustment for insurance, education, age, parity, marital status, and ethnicity (adjusted odds ratios = 5.32 and 3.09, respectively)., Conclusions: This study's results indicate that low-income women are the mainstream maternity population, not a "special needs" subgroup; even among privately insured childbearing women, a substantial proportion have low income. Efforts to increase timely prenatal care initiation cannot focus solely on women with Medicaid, the uninsured, women in absolute poverty, or those who receive care at public-sector sites.

The increased risk of infant mortality associated with single motherhood is neither consistent among social and demographic subgroups nor inevitable, according to data from national linked birth and infant death files for 1983-1985. Maternal age is the only variable found to have a significant interaction with marital status among black mothers, and the risk associated with unmarried status increases with age. Among white mothers, age, educational level and receipt of prenatal care all show significant interactions with marital status; the increased risks of infant mortality attributed to unmarried motherhood are concentrated among subgroups usually thought to be at lower risk. For example, the risks of infant mortality among unmarried white women relative to married white women are highest among 25-29-year-olds. However, being unmarried did not affect the risk of infant mortality among babies born to college-educated white women.

Background: We studied differences in the incidence of appendiceal perforation in patients with acute appendicitis according to their insurance coverage., Methods: In a retrospective analysis of hospital-discharge data, we examined the likelihood of ruptured appendix among adults 18 to 64 years old who were hospitalized for acute appendicitis in California from 1984 to 1989., Results: After controlling for age, sex, psychiatric diagnoses, substance abuse, diabetes, poverty, race or ethnic group, and hospital characteristics, we found that ruptured appendix was more likely among both Medicaid-covered and uninsured patients with appendicitis than among patients with private capitated coverage (odds ratios, 1.49 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.41 to 1.59] and 1.46 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.39 to 1.54], respectively). After adjustment for the above factors, the risk of appendiceal rupture associated with a lack of private insurance was elevated at both county and other hospitals, but admission to a county hospital was an independent risk factor. In all income groups, appendiceal rupture was more likely with fee-for-service than capitated private coverage (overall odds ratio, 1.20 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.15 to 1.25])., Conclusions: Among patients with appendicitis an increased risk of ruptured appendix may be due to insurance-related delays in obtaining medical care. Both organizational and financial features of Medicaid and various types or levels of private third-party coverage may be involved. The significant association between ruptured appendix and insurance coverage after adjustment for socio-economic differences suggests barriers to receiving medically necessary acute care that should be considered in current deliberations on health policy.

The age-adjusted rate of lower-extremity amputation (LEA) in the diabetic population is approximately 15 times that of the nondiabetic population. Over 50,000 LEAs were performed on individuals with diabetes in the United States in 1985. Among individuals with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy and peripheral vascular disease (PVD) are major predisposing factors for LEA. Lack of adequate foot care and infection are additional risk factors. Several large clinical centers have experienced a 44-85% reduction in the rate of amputations among individuals with diabetes after the implementation of improved foot-care programs. Programs to reduce amputations among people with diabetes in primary-care settings should identify those at high risk; clinically evaluate individuals to determine specific risk status; ensure appropriate preventive therapy, treatment for foot problems, and follow-up; provide patient education; and, when necessary, refer patients to specialists, including health-care professionals for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions and shoe fitters for proper footwear. Programs should monitor and evaluate their activities and outcomes. Many issues related to the etiology and prevention of LEAs require further research.