Progress Toward Elimination of Health Disparities

The following discussion highlights progress toward the elimination of health disparities. The disparities are illustrated in the Disparities Table (see Figure 21-2), which displays information about disparities among select populations for which data were available for assessment.

The white non-Hispanic population had the best rates for 11 of the 12 objectives and subobjectives with racial and ethnic disparities of at least 10 percent. The largest racial and ethnic disparity was observed in untreated dental decay among persons aged 35 to 44 years (21-2d). Among the black non-Hispanic population, the rate for decay was more than twice the rate of the white non-Hispanic population. Women had better rates than men for four of the six objectives with gender disparities of at least 10 percent. Most gender disparities were less than 50 percent.

Persons with at least some college had the best rates for 9 of the 10 objectives and subobjectives with education disparities of at least 10 percent. Children aged 2 to 4 years living in households headed by persons with less than a high school education had rates for dental caries (21-1a) and untreated dental decay (21-2a) that were more than double the rates of children living in households headed by persons with at least some college. Persons aged 35 to 44 years with high school and less than a high school education had rates for untreated dental decay (21-2d) twice that of persons with at least some college. Similarly, the rate for destructive periodontal disease (21-5b) among persons with less than a high school education was almost three times the rate of persons with at least some college.

Among many of the objectives in this focus area, the trend in disparities remained unchanged for race and ethnicity, gender, and education levels. However, there were some changes. The disparity between men and women with no permanent tooth loss (21-3) increased between 1988–94 and 1999–2002. Between 1988–94 and 1999–2000, the disparity in the proportion of persons with destructive periodontal disease (21-5b) between the Mexican American and the white non-Hispanic populations narrowed. The disparity in the proportion of persons who have annual dental visits (21-10) increased between the Hispanic and white non-Hispanic populations.

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