The association between racial disparity in income and reported sexually transmitted infections

K. Owusu-Edusei , H.W. Chesson, J.S. Leichliter, C.K. Kent and S.O. Aral

American Journal of Public Health, 2013, vol. 103, issue 5, 910-916

Abstract: Objectives: We examined the association between racial disparity in income and reported race-specific county-level bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States focusing on disparities between Blacks and Whites. Methods: Data are from the US 2000 decennial census. We defined 2 race-income county groups (high and low race-income disparity) on the basis of the difference between Black and White median household incomes. We used 2 approaches to examine disparities in STI rates across the groups. In the first approach, we computed and compared race-specific STI rates for the groups. In the second approach, we used spatial regression analyses to control for potential confounders. Results: Consistent with the STI literature, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis rates for Blacks were substantially higher than were those for Whites. We also found that racial disparities in income were associated with racial disparities in chlamydia and gonorrhea rates and, to a lesser degree, syphilis rates. Conclusions: Racial disparities in household income may be a more important determinant of racial disparities in reported STI morbidity than are absolute levels of household income.

Keywords: African American; article; Caucasian; chlamydiasis; classification; economics; ethnology; female; gonorrhea; health disparity; human; income; male; regression analysis; sexually transmitted disease; spatial analysis; statistics; syphilis; United States, African Americans; Chlamydia Infections; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Gonorrhea; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Income; Male; Regression Analysis; Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial; Spatial Analysis; Syphilis; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301015

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2012.301015_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301015

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().