What Is a "Racial Health Disparity"? Five Analytic Traditions

The impact of comorbidities and sociodemographic predictors on pneumococcal vaccination coverage in adults with coronary heart disease

Aim: Coronary heart disease (CHD) increases the risk of adverse outcomes from invasive pneumococcal disease. Methods: Using the 2020 and 2021 data from the national health interview survey, we identified adults with CHD. Chi-square analysis and logistic regression were used to examine factors that influence vaccination status. Results: There were 2675 participants aged 41 and above with CHD. Participants were predominantly white people (82.5%) and males (60.1%). The odds of receiving the pneumococcal vaccine increased with stepwise increase in comorbidities from 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3. Among individuals with ≥2 comorbidities, black people were less likely to be vaccinated compared with white people. Conclusion: Pneumococcal vaccine uptake among adults with CHD is determined by cumulative comorbidities and ethnicity.

Racism, Power, And Health Equity: The Case Of Tenant Organizing

Racial disparities in health are among the most disconcerting forms of inequity in the United States. Divergent health outcomes between Americans racialized as White and those racialized as Black, Latinx, and Indigenous do not stem from biological or genetic differences. To the contrary, "race" comes to have concrete consequences through social, economic, and political systems. Yet the political contours of health equity remain especially understudied. This article places the politics of health equity in the foreground through the lens of housing, a critical determinant of health. Drawing on in-depth qualitative evidence rooted in the experiences of tenants who confront health-threatening housing conditions, I examine how people within racially and economically marginalized communities organize to build political power in response to those conditions. By charting how tenants navigate state and local political processes, I demonstrate the possibilities for organized tenants to wield power in ways that help advance health equity in the face of structural racism.