Minorities with disabilities suffer most

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - During 2004-2006, an estimated 20% of US adults, or 1 in 5 people, had some level of disability and these individuals -- particularly individuals from certain minority groups -- were much more likely to rate their health as fair or poor compared with persons without a disability.

Black, Hispanic and Native Americans with a disability reported fair or poor health at disproportionately higher rates than White and Asian Americans, health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday in the agency's weekly report on illness and death.

"Health care delivery has been slow to reduce disparities that would enable many persons with disabilities to achieve and maintain a good level of health," they wrote in the lead article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The researchers analyzed racial and ethnic disparities in self-rated health status among adults with and without disabilities using data from the 2004-2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System -- a large telephone survey that monitors the prevalence of key health behaviors.

The prevalence of disability among US adults ranged from 11.6 percent among Asians to 29.9 percent among American Indians/Alaska Natives.

When compared with adults without a disability, those with a disability were less likely to have excellent or very good health (27.2 percent vs. 60.2 percent), and more likely to report being in fair or poor health (40.3 percent vs. 9.9 percent).

Reports of fair or poor health among adults with a disability were most common among Hispanics (55.2 percent) and American Indians/Alaska Natives (50.5 percent) and least common among Asians (24.9 percent).

"Efforts to reduce health disparities among racial/ethnic populations should also address the needs of adults with disabilities," the report concludes.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, October 3, 2008.