Hispanic women suffer high pregnancy disparities

Research has long demonstrated a number of health disparities exist when it comes to minority women in the United States.

Most of the topics covered by the media focus on specific diseases where minority women fall short with care or survival, but health disparities are apparent even in general medicine, including that of pregnancy care.

SEE ALSO: How to prepare for a healthy pregnancy

In a recent study from the University of Pennsylvania, experts explored the health disparities affecting pregnant minority women and how those disparities will be impacted by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the findings, experts noted important ACA changes will help improve disparities, but large health gaps will likely remain for African American and Hispanic women.

“Coverage changes associated with the Affordable Care Act may provide some opportunities to reach communities most at risk,” researchers said to NewsRX in a press release. “Delivery innovation, payment reform, and further public financing of key services are examples of further management approaches that can be used to address reproductive health disparities. The Affordable Care Act offers important opportunities to address persistent reproductive health disparities, but significant gaps remain.”

Findings in the study included:

• Pregnancy-related mortality ratios are up to three times higher in African American women compared with non-Hispanic White women.
• The risk of severe maternal morbidity also significantly higher in African American and Hispanic women compared to non-Hispanic white women.
• Unintended pregnancy is twice as likely in minority women.
• Insurance status, socioeconomic status, and broader social determinants of health are implicated in these disparities.

“Many health disparities are directly related to inequities in income, housing, safety, education, and job opportunities; they largely result from differences in socioeconomic status and insurance status,” wrote researchers in a 2005 study from The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). “Although many disparities diminish after taking these factors into account, some remain because of health care system-level, patient-level, and provider-level factors.”

Researchers add, “The current U.S. health care financing paradigm inadvertently may contribute to disparities in health outcomes. The United States is the only developed country that does not extend health care as a right of citizenship. In the United States, health care is driven by market forces; the ultimate goal of the health care business is to maximize profit. For these reasons, this health care system contributes to a lack of access for citizens who are either uninsured or underinsured.”

SEE ALSO: Do men experience ‘sympathetic pregnancy’?

The ACA is designed to address those issues pinpointed by studies like the one from ACOG. By making health insurance more affordable, a significant amount of minority individuals and families will be able to gain coverage. That coverage is the first step toward reducing health disparities, though cultural, language and transportation barriers also must be breached.

While health disparities in other areas of minority care–such as female cancers– have received much focus lately in terms of raising awareness, experts remind the medical community that healthy minority women face disparities in everyday medical circumstances. These general health issues, like motherhood, need attention perhaps even more so than other areas of health.

(function(d, s, id) {

var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];

if (d.getElementById(id)) return;

js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;

js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=313098648827735&version=v2.0”;

fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);

}(document, “script”, “facebook-jssdk”));

The post Hispanic women suffer high pregnancy disparities appeared first on Voxxi.