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What’s Behind the Underdiagnosis of ADHD in Black Women?
Read More: What’s Behind the Underdiagnosis of ADHD in Black Women?July is Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. As a child and young adult, Stephanie Robertson appeared to be the ideal student. She earned near-perfect grades throughout high school and attended some of the nation’s top universities. By her mid-20s, she’d graduated from law school and was beginning her career with a…
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Why Are Women of Color More at Risk for Lupus?
Read More: Why Are Women of Color More at Risk for Lupus?As a senior at Florida A&M University, Sharon Harris had been juggling a full course load, three jobs and other demands of college life when she started to feel sick. She visited the doctor and went to the hospital emergency room for gastrointestinal problems, and healthcare providers (HCPs) thought she might have Crohn’s disease. The…
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Bladder Cancer and Black Women
Read More: Bladder Cancer and Black WomenMonica Austin-Cox remembers well the day a routine pelvic exam changed her life forever. Her gynecologist felt a lump that was initially believed to be related to Austin-Cox’s ovaries. But further testing revealed it was actually a mass in her bladder. She was quickly referred to a urologist, who performed a cystoscopy, a procedure that…
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Black Women Have the Lowest Rates of Ovarian Cancer — But Are Less Likely to Survive the Disease
Read More: Black Women Have the Lowest Rates of Ovarian Cancer — But Are Less Likely to Survive the DiseaseSeptember 2024 is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Like most cancers, ovarian cancer has better outcomes if it’s treated early. However, it’s tough to find ovarian cancer early because it often has no symptoms. In the U.S. alone, there are almost 20,000 new cases of ovarian cancer each year — and more than 14,000 deaths.…
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Access, Endometrial cancer, Gynecologic cancer, Health disparities, Racial disparities, Uterine cancer
Why Are Endometrial Cancer Rates Rising?
Read More: Why Are Endometrial Cancer Rates Rising?Venus* never forgot the advice her OB-GYN gave her after she went through menopause. “If you ever have any kind of bleeding, see a doctor.” Those words came to mind in February 2022 when Venus noticed a small amount of blood even though she was no longer getting periods. She quickly scheduled an appointment with…
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Can Racial Bias Limit Access to Colon Cancer Screening and Treatment for Women of Color?
Read More: Can Racial Bias Limit Access to Colon Cancer Screening and Treatment for Women of Color?For almost eight months, Jenna Scott had the ideal pregnancy. Then the bleeding, dizziness and abdominal pain started. Scott, 29, feared something was wrong with her baby, but her OB-GYN told her everything was fine after her appointment. Her baby could be sitting on her organs or perhaps she was experiencing typical pregnancy-induced hemorrhoids. The…
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The Struggle Is Real: Black Women and Lung Cancer
Read More: The Struggle Is Real: Black Women and Lung CancerAyanay Ferguson knew something just wasn’t right with her body when she returned from vacation with her husband in April 2021. “I had swollen ankles and shortness of breath,” recalled Ferguson, 50, an Atlanta-area clinical psychologist. She initially thought her symptoms were from post-vacation fatigue and her weight. As her symptoms lingered, she booked a…
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The Mental and Physical Load of Racial Trauma
Read More: The Mental and Physical Load of Racial TraumaApril is National Minority Mental Health Month. A woman of color begins suffering from depression after hearing jokes about her ethnicity on a regular basis at work. Another woman feels anxious when she drives too close to a police cruiser. Yet another woman stops taking her regular walks outside, fearful that her race might make…
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Did You Know That Heart Disease Affects Women of Color Differently?
Read More: Did You Know That Heart Disease Affects Women of Color Differently?February is American Heart Month. Cardiovascular disease is often dismissed as a middle-aged white man’s disease, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The risk of cardiovascular disease among women, especially women of color, is poorly understood, yet the statistics speak for themselves. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for all women,…
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A Conversation with Makeba L. Williams, M.D., About Health Equity and Menopause
Read More: A Conversation with Makeba L. Williams, M.D., About Health Equity and MenopauseMenopause is a near-universal experience for women in midlife. And most women will experience some physical, mental and emotional changes in the years leading up to, and following, the end of their menstrual cycles. While vasomotor symptoms such as night sweats and hot flashes are common for most women, how long they last and how…
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Women’s Health Concerns Are Not Always Taken Seriously — and It’s Even Worse for Women of Color
Read More: Women’s Health Concerns Are Not Always Taken Seriously — and It’s Even Worse for Women of ColorChristine Topham nearly died while giving birth when she was 33 years old. She needed an emergency hysterectomy, but her healthcare provider (HCP) never fully explained the seriousness of the surgery to her. “Before I could even get my head around what it would mean to have no uterus, the doctor said to me, ‘Don’t…
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The Cost of Racial Bias in OB-GYN Care
Read More: The Cost of Racial Bias in OB-GYN CareWhat does racial bias look like in gynecological and uterine health? A comprehensive review that examined multiple areas of reproductive health found racial and ethnic disparities that led to worse outcomes for women of color. The statistics tell the story. Maternal mortality rates are higher for Black women and American Indian/ Alaska Native women, who…
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Overall Preterm Birth Rates in the United States Increased Last Year — And They Rose for Women of Color
Read More: Overall Preterm Birth Rates in the United States Increased Last Year — And They Rose for Women of Color+ Infographic text Preterm or premature birth means childbirth before the 37th week of pregnancy. 10.5% of babies in the U.S. are born preterm. Around 384,000 babies were born preterm in 2021 The earlier in pregnancy a baby is born, the more likely they are to have health problems. Babies born before 34 weeks of…
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Do Ethnicity and Race Put People at Higher Risk for Head and Neck Cancers?
Read More: Do Ethnicity and Race Put People at Higher Risk for Head and Neck Cancers?If you’re Black, your risk of developing head and neck cancer — which consists of cancers of the lips, mouth, voice box, throat and salivary glands — is twice as high as if you’re white. For many years, it was thought genetic factors might be at play, but recent research suggests that the increased risk…
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Access, cancer, Endometrial cancer, Gynecological cancer, Health disparities, Racial disparities, Uterine cancer
Why Are Black Women More Likely to Die From Endometrial Cancer?
Read More: Why Are Black Women More Likely to Die From Endometrial Cancer?In 2012, Adrienne Moore noticed her menstrual cycles were changing. Her periods were becoming irregular, and they came with heavy bleeding and significant cramping when they did arrive. Healthcare providers diagnosed cysts, fibroids and even early menopause, but Moore said no one presented a treatment plan that worked. For the next four years, Moore searched…
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Access, Access to health care, Health care, Health disparities, Racial disparities, Skin, Skin health
The Importance of Black Dermatologists: Skin Care Must See Color
Read More: The Importance of Black Dermatologists: Skin Care Must See ColorThe dentist’s office was the last place I expected to be warned about skin cancer. When my hygienist lifted my hair off my ears during a head and neck exam, she noticed a mole that hadn’t been present six months ago. “I’m not an expert on skin conditions, but just to be safe, you might…
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A Conversation With Dr. Octavia Cannon About How Race Can Influence Menopause
Read More: A Conversation With Dr. Octavia Cannon About How Race Can Influence MenopauseAlthough menopause is a normal part of aging, many women can feel unprepared for the physical and mental changes that come with this stage of life. For many women of color, the menopausal transition can be even more intense, and researchers are working to find out why. We reached out to Octavia Cannon, D.O., an…
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It’s a Myth That Sunscreen Prevents Melanoma in People of Color – a Dermatologist Explains
Read More: It’s a Myth That Sunscreen Prevents Melanoma in People of Color – a Dermatologist ExplainsBy Adewole S. Adamson, University of Texas at Austin Melanoma is a potentially deadly form of skin cancer that effects people of every racial and ethnic group. The risk factor most closely linked to developing melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet, or UV, rays from the sun. In fact, sunburns have been associated with doubling one’s…
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Breast cancer, Breast cancer policy, Breast health, Medical tests, Preventive care, Racial disparities, Racism
Biopsies Confirm a Breast Cancer Diagnosis After an Abnormal Mammogram – but Structural Racism May Lead to Lengthy Delays
Read More: Biopsies Confirm a Breast Cancer Diagnosis After an Abnormal Mammogram – but Structural Racism May Lead to Lengthy DelaysBy Marissa Lawson, University of Washington and Christoph Lee, University of Washington While mammograms are often the first step to detecting breast cancer, patients need additional tests after an abnormal screening result. Further imaging can determine if a finding is truly suspicious for cancer, and sometimes a biopsy is required to confirm a diagnosis. But…
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When Stigma Kills
Read More: When Stigma KillsJuly is National Minority Mental Health Awareness month. On Feb. 14, 1995, Fonda Bryant was prepared to die. She planned to take her life that day, and made one final call to her Aunt Spanky, a relative three years older who felt more like a sister than an aunt. Bryant told her she could have…
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Black Women Have Many Risks to Their Mental Health. For Me, Juneteenth Is a Day of Healing.
Read More: Black Women Have Many Risks to Their Mental Health. For Me, Juneteenth Is a Day of Healing.The temperature climbed past 80 degrees as my children and I followed the marked route between historic dwellings in a suburban downtown district just minutes from our home. Their breath grew labored, their pace slowed in the early afternoon heat, and they were thankful for the breaks each time we stopped to listen to a…
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Access, Access to health care, cancer, Gender, Health disparities, Lgbtq, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities, Racism
Race, Gender and the Ways These Identities Intersect Matter in Cancer Outcomes
Read More: Race, Gender and the Ways These Identities Intersect Matter in Cancer OutcomesBy Timothy Pawlik, The Ohio State University; Elizabeth Palmer, The Ohio State University, and Samilia Obeng-Gyasi, The Ohio State University The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Belonging to one or more groups with long-standing social and economic disadvantages increases the risk of cancer diagnoses and death, according…
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15 minutes with, Access, Access to health care, Expert perspectives, Health disparities, Racial disparities, Racism
15 Minutes With: Dr. Neel Shah Talks to HealthyWomen About Racism in Healthcare
Read More: 15 Minutes With: Dr. Neel Shah Talks to HealthyWomen About Racism in HealthcareDr. Neel Shah is chief medical officer of Maven Clinic, the world’s largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and the founder of Costs of Care. Shah is featured in “The Color of Care,” an original documentary from Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo productions…
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Breast cancer, Breast cancer survivor, Breast health, Health disparities, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities
Why Do Women of Color Have Worse Breast Cancer Outcomes?
Read More: Why Do Women of Color Have Worse Breast Cancer Outcomes?In 2013, Katrece Nolen, a 47-year-old Black woman in Northern Virginia, noticed one of her breasts felt swollen. She called her doctor and was sent for a mammogram. The results did not confirm the presence of cancer, so Nolen was prescribed an antibiotic regimen for what was thought to be mastitis. Several weeks later, her…
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Obesity Among Black Women: Fighting the Disease Through Community
Read More: Obesity Among Black Women: Fighting the Disease Through CommunityApril is National Minority Health Month. For Michele Tedder, fighting obesity has been a lifelong journey. Despite years of trying numerous diets and exercise fads, Tedder’s weight continued to rise, surpassing 300 pounds on her 5-foot-1 frame. After developing high blood pressure, joint pain and Type 2 diabetes, she decided to pursue weight loss surgery.…
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New Report Finds U.S. Women Have the Highest Rate of Maternal Deaths Among High-Income Countries
Read More: New Report Finds U.S. Women Have the Highest Rate of Maternal Deaths Among High-Income CountriesFrom The Commonwealth Fund The maternal mortality crisis in the United States has been well documented: U.S. women have the highest rate of maternal deaths among high-income countries, while Black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women are. But maternal deaths and complications may be a bellwether…
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Transgender People of Color Face Unique Challenges as Gender Discrimination and Racism Intersect
Read More: Transgender People of Color Face Unique Challenges as Gender Discrimination and Racism IntersectBy Gabriel Lockett, University of Florida; Jules Sostre, University of Florida, and Roberto L. Abreu, University of Florida Throughout history, transgender people of color have had a place of honor in many indigenous cultures around the world. This changed in many places, however, as European colonizers began forcing indigenous people to follow white social norms.…
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Access, Endometriosis, Health disparities, Health insurance, Racial disparities, Racism, Real women real stories, Women’s rights
I Was Bleeding to Death on the Bathroom Floor — While the Medics Insisted I Couldn’t Afford the Ambulance Ride
Read More: I Was Bleeding to Death on the Bathroom Floor — While the Medics Insisted I Couldn’t Afford the Ambulance RideAs told to Erica Rimlinger One evening during my senior year of college in Texas, I was hanging out at my boyfriend’s apartment when a vicious, blinding pain seized my abdomen. It was like I’d been shot, but the pain wasn’t localized: it was everywhere in my torso. I started bleeding like I had my…
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What Is Alopecia? It’s No Laughing Matter for Millions of Black American Women
Read More: What Is Alopecia? It’s No Laughing Matter for Millions of Black American WomenBy Danita Peoples, Wayne State University The Oscar slap that overshadowed the Academy Awards ceremony was sparked by a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s lack of hair – with husband Will Smith objecting violently to comedian Chris Rock mocking the actress’s shaved head. Away from the recriminations over what could be perceived as a mean-spirited…
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Access, Access to health care, Gender, Gender diversity, Health care, Health disparities, Health insurance, Lgbtq, Preventive care, Racial disparities, Racism, Transgender
What’s Sexual Orientation Got to Do With It? LGTBQ People Face Discrimination in Healthcare
Read More: What’s Sexual Orientation Got to Do With It? LGTBQ People Face Discrimination in HealthcareMarch 21 to March 25 is National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week. At age 28, Laura Silverstein tripped while running, dislocating her pinky finger trying to break her fall. Now 52, Silverstein said her experience at the emergency room that day still gives her “the heebie jeebies.” The doctor probed Silverstein about her birth control method,…
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Access, Access to health care, Affordability, Affordable care act, Health care, Health disparities, Health insurance, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities
Why Millions on Medicaid Are at Risk of Losing Coverage in the Months Ahead
Read More: Why Millions on Medicaid Are at Risk of Losing Coverage in the Months AheadBy Rachana Pradhan, Kaiser Health News The Biden administration and state officials are bracing for a great unwinding: millions of people losing their Medicaid benefits when the pandemic health emergency ends. Some might sign up for different insurance. Many others are bound to get lost in the transition. State Medicaid agencies for months have been…
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Breast cancer, cancer, Clinical trials, Diabetes, Medical research and clinical trials, Obesity, Racial disparities
New Insights From Biology Can Help Overcome Siloed Thinking in Cancer Clinical Trials and Treatment
Read More: New Insights From Biology Can Help Overcome Siloed Thinking in Cancer Clinical Trials and TreatmentBy Gerald Denis, Boston University Rarely does an oncologist closely question a breast cancer patient about their blood glucose, body weight, lipid profile, or medications for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Instead, these issues are usually the concern of the patient’s primary care provider. Medical experts have recognized that obesity, defined as a body mass index…
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Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diabetes, Health disparities, Heart disease, Obesity, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities
How the Pandemic’s Unequal Toll on People of Color Underlines US Health Inequities – and Why Solving Them Is so Critical
Read More: How the Pandemic’s Unequal Toll on People of Color Underlines US Health Inequities – and Why Solving Them Is so CriticalBy Abubakarr Jalloh, Hollins University From the earliest days of the pandemic, COVID-19 has wrought a far higher toll in communities of color than in the general population – thrusting the long-standing issue of health disparities in the U.S. into the attention of public health officials and the general public. Even though non-Hispanic white people…
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Why Addressing Racism Against Black Women in Health Care Is Key to Ending the US HIV Epidemic
Read More: Why Addressing Racism Against Black Women in Health Care Is Key to Ending the US HIV EpidemicBy Nabila El-Bassel, Columbia University Forty years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Black women continue to bear the highest burden of HIV among women. Although Black women represent only 13% of the female population, they accounted for over half of HIV diagnoses among all females in the U.S. in 2018, according to data from the U.S.…
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A New, Lower Threshold for Lead Poisoning in Children Means More Kids Will Get Tested – but the Ultimate Solution Is Eliminating Lead Sources
Read More: A New, Lower Threshold for Lead Poisoning in Children Means More Kids Will Get Tested – but the Ultimate Solution Is Eliminating Lead SourcesGabriel Filippelli, IUPUI The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its blood lead reference value – the level at which children ages 1-5 are considered to have high exposure to lead. Since 2012, this threshold had been set at 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood; children at or above this…
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15 minutes with, Access, Clinical trials, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health, Health disparities, Hivaids, Lgbtq, Racial disparities, Research, Science, Vaccinations, Vaccines
15 Minutes With Phyllis Greenberger
Read More: 15 Minutes With Phyllis GreenbergerWe are honored to have Phyllis Greenberger on our team as senior vice president of policy, advocacy and science for HealthyWomen. A women’s health pioneer, Greenberger received the 2021 Perennial Hero Award from the Alliance for Aging Research in September. The award honors an older individual who is actively contributing to creating positive societal change…
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Access, Health care, Health insurance, Policy, Pregnancy, Premature birth, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities, Racism
Racism a Strong Factor in Black Women’s High Rate of Premature Births, Study Finds
Read More: Racism a Strong Factor in Black Women’s High Rate of Premature Births, Study FindsBy Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Kaiser Health News The tipping point for Dr. Paula Braveman came when a longtime patient of hers at a community clinic in San Francisco’s Mission District slipped past the front desk and knocked on her office door to say goodbye. He wouldn’t be coming to the clinic anymore, he told her,…
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Americans Are in a Mental Health Crisis – Especially African Americans. Can Churches Help?
Read More: Americans Are in a Mental Health Crisis – Especially African Americans. Can Churches Help?By Brad R. Fulton, Indiana University Centuries of systemic racism and everyday discrimination in the U.S. have left a major mental health burden on African American communities, and the past few years have dealt especially heavy blows. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that Black Americans are twice as likely to…
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Access, Access to health care, Affordability, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health disparities, Policy, Prevention, Preventive health, Racial disparities, Research, Vaccinations, Vaccines
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
Read More: Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of UrbanitesBy Lauren Weber, Kaiser Health News Rural Americans are dying of covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated. While the…
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Racism at the OB-GYN: Bias Can be Deadly
Read More: Racism at the OB-GYN: Bias Can be DeadlyNo pajamas. No slippers. No hair bonnets. For some, the sign at a Columbus, Georgia, OB-GYN office could have been little more than a generic “no shirt, no shoes, no service” notice often spotted at public establishments. But Leslie Mac, a digital strategist, organizer and activist, saw something more insidious. “This was a clear example…
