The prevalence of obesity among the populations of most developed countries has increased to such an extent that the healthcare and social security/disability system will accumulate direct and indirect costs related to obesity that will be more substantial than those for any other primary...

Culture influences all spheres of human life. It defines health, illness, and the search for relief from disease or distress. With increased mobilization of people across geographical and national borders, multicultural trends are emerging in many countries. This is reflected in the cultural...

Objective: To assess associations between race/ethnicity and medication adherence, and the potential modifying effects of weight category (normal, overweight, obese) in a community-based sample. Study design and setting: We studied 1355 participants from the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk...

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of adults and children in industrialized countries, and has had a marked increase in prevalence over the past 25 years. Asthma disproportionately affects under-represented minority populations, with African Americans and (some) Hispanics having...

The heightened awareness of substantial racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes has major implications for how healthcare providers effectively manage health conditions among diverse populations. This report identifies five dimensions that address the major causes of disparities that...

Background:Background: Preliminary studies have revealed an association between cultural competence and an improvement in the quality of healthcare services, increased patient satisfaction, and increased effectiveness of services. Abstract: Objective:Objective: This study examined factors that...

A strong association between lower socioeconomic status and worse health has been documented within many countries, but little work has been done to compare the strength of this relationship across countries. We compare the strength of the relationship between income and self-reported health in...

The validity of estimates of resource utilisation based on patient recall has not been firmly established. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify studies that used patient self-reports to derive estimates of healthcare resource utilisation, direct nonmedical costs and...