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Race may play role in health-related outcomes for children
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Significant differences in a broad range of health issues were observed among black, Latino and white children, according to study results published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“We found wide gaps between black and white children and between Latino and white children, in fifth grade,” study researcher Mark A. Schuster, MD, PhD, said in a press release. “When we delved deeper, we found that factors like the child’s school, household income and parents’ education were strongly related to children’s health.”
Schuster, chief of general pediatrics and vice chair for health policy in the department of medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues interviewed 5,119 randomly selected public school fifth-graders and their parents from three metropolitan areas in the United States. The researchers compared black, Latino and white children on 16 health-related measures, including peer victimization, witnessing violence, discrimination, perpetration of aggression, exercise, obesity, seat belt use, substance use, terrorism worries and self-rated health status and psychological and physical quality of life.
In unadjusted analysis, Schuster and colleagues found that blacks were four times more likely, and Latinos two times more likely, as whites to witness a threat or injury with a gun (P<.001). The number of days the student had performed vigorous exercise in the past week was lower for blacks (3.56 days) and Latinos (3.77 days) than whites (4.33 days; P<.001). Compared with whites, lifetime cigarette use was 5% higher for blacks (P<.01), consistent seat belt use was 15% lower for blacks and 11% lower for Latinos, and consistent bike-helmet use 36% lower for blacks and 32% lower for Latinos (P<.001). The rate of obesity was 12% higher for blacks and 15% higher for Latinos vs. whites (P<.001).
Similar disparities continued among blacks and whites related to measures of peer victimization, discrimination, and physical and psychological quality of life (P<.001 for all comparisons).
Many of the health-related issues measured in the study are major contributors to youth morbidity and mortality. According to Schuster and colleagues, the results “suggest that clinicians should recognize that some consequential health-related behaviors and experiences that are associated with adolescence have already begun in elementary school, and intervention efforts may need to begin early.”
Disclosure: Dr. Schuster reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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