Health issues that disproportionately affect minorities

The NIAID notes that the following are some diseases that disproportionately affect minorities.

A host of variables affect each individual’s risk for developing a certain disease or condition. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases notes those variables include family history, but also socioeconomic status and educational background.

The NIAID notes that disparities is a term used in reference to gaps in the quality of health and health care that mirror differences in socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic background, and education level. The National Institutes of Health has even designated certain groups as health disparity populations, and those groups include American Indians/Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Members of these groups may be more likely than others to be socioeconomically disadvantaged, which can affect their access to quality health care. That can then increase their risk for various health conditions and diseases.

Though an individual at greater risk for a given health condition or disease will not automatically get it, the NIAID notes that the following are some diseases that disproportionately affect minorities.
• Asthma: The NIAID notes that Puerto Ricans had twice the asthma rate of the overall Hispanic population as recently as 2018. In addition, African American women are 20 percent more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic whites.

• Coronaviruses: The COVID-19 pandemic may be over, but millions of people are still diagnosed with COVID each year. The NIAID notes that American Indian/Alaska Native, Non-Hispanic people are 1.5 times more at risk of contracting COVID than white, non-Hispanic individuals.

• HIV/AIDS: According to the NIAID, in 2019 the overall HIV infection rate among Blacks accounted for roughly 42 percent of all HIV diagnoses in the United States. That’s in spite of the fact that Blacks comprise just 13 percent of the U.S. population.

• Kidney failure: The NIAID notes that African Americans develop kidney failure at a rate greater than four times the rate of white Americans.

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• Tuberculosis: The rate of tuberculosis cases in the United States is notably higher among various minority groups than it is among whites. In fact, the NIAID reports that, in 2015, 87 percent of all TB cases occurred in racial and ethnic minorities, particularly in Hispanics, Asians and African Americans.

A high risk factor for a certain health condition or disease does not mean a person will ultimately be diagnosed with that ailment. However, it’s in everyone’s best interest to determine their risk factor for certain health conditions and discuss ways to lower their risk with their physicians.