Posted on 09/27/2007 11:09:04 PM PDT by neverdem
The gap between the health of New Yorkers living in poverty and those with higher incomes has widened since the early 1990s, according to a survey released yesterday. It found that residents of poor neighborhoods in the city are experiencing alarming rates of diabetes and steady increases in other chronic illnesses like heart disease, while other residents have seen slower increases or even declines.
Health disparities are not new, but experts say the report by the city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., sharply underscores a greater gulf.
It also shows a costly and dangerous trend in health care today: preventable and manageable chronic illnesses are rapidly rising among low-income uninsured residents and are often not treated until they escalate to crises.
However, the report also showed that hospitalizations for asthma, a scourge of poorer neighborhoods, have plummeted and that infant mortality rates have also declined, as a result of aggressive community health campaigns.
City health officials have also recently reported success in reducing gaps in life expectancy, heart disease deaths and access to cancer screening.
“We will continue working to reduce disparities and help all New Yorkers live longer, healthier lives,” according to a statement released by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Still, the contrast between rich and poor neighborhoods in the rate of serious and deadly diseases portrayed in Mr. Thompson’s report was stark, according to data covering a 15-year period, 1990 to 2005.
Adult-onset diabetes, known as Type 2 diabetes, has skyrocketed at all but the highest income levels, with an 82 percent increase in hospitalizations in all 42 New York areas defined by the survey over the 15-year period. But in 2005, the increase in the city’s poorest areas — Hunts Point-Mott Haven; High Bridge-Morrisania; Crotona-Tremont; East Harlem; Williamsburg-Bushwick; Central Harlem; and East New York...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Women and minorities hardest hit :-)
I swear I have seen this very statement before..... and I don't think it's deja vu! Leave it to the slimes.....
"Gap in X between rich and poor is widening, study shows."
Our BS news never changes. Way to go, MSM!
Easily fixed. Nuke the upper East side.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
I’m guessing it is really between citizens and illegal aliens.
How can this happen in a left wing state?
How can this happen under Hillary’s watch?
And will it happen nationally when she takes the White House?
Figures lie, and liars figure! Another piece of phony “journalism” by the NY Slimes.
As a lifelong NYer I can tell you this is a socio-economic, cultural and genetic problem, not a Health Insurance or Medical Care problem.
NYC has the finest Doctors in the world, and there are tens of thousands of them in every specialty. Almost all accept Insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid. We also have the finest private Hospitals in the world, as well as Municipal hospitals, and no one is ever turned away.
Walk around in almost all the neighborhoods in NY that are lower middle, middle middle, and upper class, and you notice one thing. Hardly anyone is overweight.
In my neighborhood, there are almost no people of any age who are overweight. Very few children are fat and that is one major element.
Another is cultural.
People don’t eat in fast food places, because there basically aren’t many...you really have to go looking for them.
People tend to go to doctors for regular check-ups and actually follow doctor’s orders. If they have a problem and are given a prescription, the take it religiously.
Compliance is a major issue is Hypertension and Diabetes, as is diet and exercise.
They are trying to set us up for Socialized Medicine...HillaryCare.
The chronic diseases like Hypertension and Diabetes will not go down. You cannot legislate compliance.
What will happen is we will will all have a lot less freedom of choice in Health Care and we will have a lot less money left over after the government takes it’s cut.
Only partly, our guilt for having too many evil white devils has led to many folks from all over the world coming here legally. It's another benefit of diversity.
For diabetics, race and ethnicity can mean the difference between life and death
I'm not sure that genetic predisposition has a lot to do with it.
I suspect that the same people who make poor choices with respect to education, work ethic and other factors that impact income are the same people that make poor choices regarding diet, exercise and other behaviors that affect health.
I suspect that the same people who make poor choices with respect to education, work ethic and other factors that impact income are the same people that make poor choices regarding diet, exercise and other behaviors that affect health.
Culture and environment play a part in it. Check the link in comment# 11. Enter race ethnicity chronic disease illness genetic predisposition into a search engine like Yahoo, Google, etc. and see what you find. Don't go to any hit, just the ones with credibility.
I suspect that the same people who make poor choices with respect to education, work ethic and other factors that impact income are the same people that make poor choices regarding diet, exercise and other behaviors that affect health.
Most of these causes can be directly related to educational levels.
Cosmic blast may have killed off megafauna Scientists say early humans doomed, too
Lake Havasu teen becomes sixth 2007 victim of brain-eating amoeba (NOT a joke) IMHO, avoid such waters unless you must swim for your life.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Exactly....I blame high taxes, which is the burden libs love to evoke.
Gubmint to the rescue!
We can begin to remove this gap by forcing all Americans into the same substandard single payer socialized medicine system.
Then the solution is simple; smaller class sizes and higher salaries for teachers ... a winning combination every time. Right?
I have no idea what this article means by "low income uninsured." Low income people are covered by Medicaid and through that program have access to some of the best health care in the world. Nobody is forcing these people to sit on their backsides getting fatter and fatter, which is the cause of most hypertension and DM2.
It has nothing to do with genetic predisposition. Their ancestors in Africa and Mexico weren't fat, diabetic, and hypertensive, and descendants who make it out of the inner city aren't that way either.
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