Customer Reviews

Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care (with CD)

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This is a really important national study of health disparities in the US - mainly health disparities between African Americans and Caucasians (but other ethnic groups are occasionally mentioned). It shows that African Americans experience higher rates of certain medical conditions than other ethnic groups (e.g. diabetes), but also identifies clinical and practical barriers and forms of discrimination which result in inferior treatment. Importantly, it does not address inequalities which stem from discrepancies in insurance coverage -- this is a major limitation, I think.

A word of warning - this is published by the National Institutes of Medicine, so it is incredibly academic - there is a comprehensive, but somewhat excessive, literature review of some topics that lasts 126 pages. Useful for public health/epidemiology students (particularly grad students), but not for the general reader.

Although there is an Executive Summary at the beginning, it is also written in a very academic, rather than accessible, tone. So I would suggest the intended audience is really public health/epidemiology professionals.

Most of the information in this book is available online. I bought it because it was required for a college course, then I never even opened it.