Report highlights women's health issues

AORN Journal,  Oct, 2003  

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An update statistical report on women's health highlights disparities between men and women for 26 health indicators and behaviors and disparities between women of different racial and ethnic groups for 29 health indicators, according to a July 16, 2003, news release from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Woman's Health USA 2003, which is an update of the first edition of the report issued in 2002, also features a new section on special populations, including women living along the US border with Mexico, women living in rural and urban areas, women who are immigrants, incarcerated women, and older women.

Study findings include the following.

* In 2001, women had higher rates of asthma than men, with the disparity most pronounced among people age 64 and younger.

* In 2001, non-Hispanic African American women were more likely to have diabetes (102.5 per 1,000) than women of other racial and ethnic groups.

* In 2001, among people ages 12 to 17, more females than males (13.6% and 12.4%, respectively) reported having smoked cigarettes in the previous month; the smoking rate was highest among people ages 18 to 25 (35.7% for women versus 42.7% for men.

* More women than men died of heart disease in 2001, and women younger than age 45 experienced higher rates of heart disease than men of the same age (49.7 per 1,000 for women versus 27.9 per 1,000 for men). As age increases, however, these rates reverse.

* Between 1999 and 2000, 61.9% of women were overweight, including 33.4% who were obese.

* In 2001, women ages 26 to 49 were nearly twice as likely as men to experience serious mental illness (10.1% versus 5.5%).

* In 2001, non-Hispanic African American women were most likely to have been tested for HIV in their lifetimes (51.4%) compared to non-Hispanic Caucasian women (31.2%) and Hispanic women (40.6%); 61.4% of women and 44.4% of men between the ages of 25 and 34 reported having been tested for HIV.

* Lung cancer was estimated to have caused 25% of women's cancer deaths in 2002, followed by breast cancer (15%) and colorectal cancer (11%).

HRSA Issues New Statistical Guide to Women's Health (news release, Rockville, Md: Health Resources and Services Administration, Aug 22, 2002) http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/releases/2003/womenshealth.htm (accessed 28 July 2003).

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