{"666598":{"#nid":"666598","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Ethnicity, life expectancy data can aid in health equity efforts","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAcross the planet, many people are living better and longer, as humans continue to experience a substantial overall decrease in mortality. Unfortunately, that happy trend is not evenly distributed across communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDespite the progress in healthcare over the last century, resulting in longer life expectancy and better disease survival outcomes, significant disparities between various population groups remain a major global health issue.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA new study by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers in the open-access journal \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/globalpublichealth\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pgph.0001560\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPLOS Global Health\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E probes ethnic health disparities and mortality risk factors in the United Kingdom. Their work points to mortality risk factors that are group-specific, but modifiable, supporting the notion of targeted interventions that could lead to greater health equity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDifferent ethnic groups show very different levels of disease-specific mortality along with distinct mortality risk factors,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/king-jordan\u0022\u003EI. King Jordan\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, and principal investigator on the study. \u201cUnfortunately, when it comes to health, ethnicity still matters.\u201d\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth environmental and genetic factors, and the interaction between them over time, have been cited as main contributors of health disparities. Closing the gap will require a long-term, complex series of solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTaking a one-size fits all approach to healthcare will only exacerbate the very health disparities that already disproportionately burden ethnic minorities,\u201d said Jordan, whose collaborators on the study were lead author Kara Keun Lee, as well as Emily Norris, Lavanya Rishishwar, Andrew Conley, and John McDonald, emeritus professor in the School of Biological Sciences\u0026nbsp;and founding director of Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icrc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EIntegrated Cancer Research Center\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe work was done in collaboration with, and with support from, the NIH\u2019s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and Leonardo Mari\u00f1o-Ram\u00edrez, a researcher working on epidemiology and genetics research at NIMHD\u2019s Division of Intramural Research (DIR).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe UK Example\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research team analyzed data on 490,610 Asian, Black, and White participants from the UK Biobank, a study that enrolled 500,000 people in the UK aged 40 to 69 between 2006 and 2010. The UK Biobank includes data spanning physical measures, lifestyle, blood and urine biomarkers, imaging, genetic, and linked medical and death registry records.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECertain causes of mortality were more common among the different ethnic groups: Asian individuals had the highest mortality from ischemic heart disease, while individuals in the Black community had the highest mortality from COVID-19, and White individuals had the highest mortality from cancers of respiratory\/intrathoracic organs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, some preexisting medical conditions and biomarkers showed specific associations with ethnicity and mortality. Mental health diagnoses, for instance, were a major risk factor for mortality in the Asian group, whereas parasitic diseases and C-reactive protein (CRP) serum levels were associated with higher mortality in the Black group.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u201cThese results underscore the importance of population-specific studies that can help decompose health disparities and inform targeted interventions towards, shrinking the health disparity gap,\u201d said Jordan, who praised Lee\u2019s approach to the study, \u201cwhich highlights the importance of considering individuals\u2019 self-reported identity as it relates to their health outcomes, disease risks, and exposures.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor future work, the team plans to look at racial and ethnic health disparities in the US, in collaboration with the NIMHD.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECITATION:\u003C\/strong\u003E Kara Keun Lee, Emily T. Norris, Lavanya Rishishwar, Andrew B. Conley, Leonardo Mari\u00f1o-Ram\u00edrez, John F. McDonald, and I. King Jordan. \u201cEthnic disparities in mortality and group-specific risk factors in the UK Biobank.\u201d\u0026nbsp; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pgph.0001560\u0022\u003Edoi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pgph.0001560\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"New research from the Jordan Lab points to mortality risk factors that are group-specific, but modifiable, supporting the notion of targeted interventions that could lead to greater health equity. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study by Georgia Tech researchers in the open-access journal PLOS Global Health probes ethnic health disparities and mortality risk factors in the United Kingdom. Their work points to mortality risk factors that are group-specific, but modifiable, supporting the notion of targeted interventions that could lead to greater health equity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New research from the Jordan Lab points to mortality risk factors that are group-specific, but modifiable, supporting the notion of targeted interventions that could lead to greater health equity. "}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2023-03-10 13:59:54","changed_gmt":"2023-05-16 21:39:25","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-03-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-03-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"666597":{"id":"666597","type":"image","title":"Kara and King","body":null,"created":"1678455984","gmt_created":"2023-03-10 13:46:24","changed":"1678455984","gmt_changed":"2023-03-10 13:46:24","alt":"","file":{"fid":"252031","name":"Kara and King.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Kara%20and%20King.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Kara%20and%20King.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3363326,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Kara%20and%20King.jpg?itok=ujDLkHu_"}}},"media_ids":["666597"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"139611","name":"mortality"},{"id":"11146","name":"ethnicity"},{"id":"2546","name":"bioinformatics"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"192258","name":"cos-data"},{"id":"192250","name":"cos-microbial"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}