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Equally inequitable? A cross-national comparative study of racial health inequalities in the United States and Canada

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  • Ramraj, Chantel
  • Shahidi, Faraz Vahid
  • Darity, William
  • Kawachi, Ichiro
  • Zuberi, Daniyal
  • Siddiqi, Arjumand

Abstract

Prior research suggests that racial inequalities in health vary in magnitude across societies. This paper uses the largest nationally representative samples available to compare racial inequalities in health in the United States and Canada. Data were obtained from ten waves of the National Health Interview Survey (n = 162,271,885) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (n = 19,906,131) from 2000 to 2010. We estimated crude and adjusted odds ratios, and risk differences across racial groups for a range of health outcomes in each country. Patterns of racial health inequalities differed across the United States and Canada. After adjusting for covariates, black-white and Hispanic-white inequalities were relatively larger in the United States, while aboriginal-white inequalities were larger in Canada. In both countries, socioeconomic factors did not explain inequalities across racial groups to the same extent. In conclusion, while racial inequalities in health exist in both the United States and Canada, the magnitudes of these inequalities as well as the racial groups affected by them, differ considerably across the two countries. This suggests that the relationship between race and health varies as a function of the societal context in which it operates.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramraj, Chantel & Shahidi, Faraz Vahid & Darity, William & Kawachi, Ichiro & Zuberi, Daniyal & Siddiqi, Arjumand, 2016. "Equally inequitable? A cross-national comparative study of racial health inequalities in the United States and Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 19-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:161:y:2016:i:c:p:19-26
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.028
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    Cited by:

    1. Deborah Urrutia & Elisa Manetti & Megan Williamson & Emeline Lequy, 2021. "Overview of Canada’s Answer to the COVID-19 Pandemic’s First Wave (January–April 2020)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Randall Akee & Maggie R. Jones & Sonya R. Porter, 2019. "Race Matters: Income Shares, Income Inequality, and Income Mobility for All U.S. Races," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(3), pages 999-1021, June.
    3. Siddiqi, Arjumand & Shahidi, Faraz Vahid & Ramraj, Chantel & Williams, David R., 2017. "Associations between race, discrimination and risk for chronic disease in a population-based sample from Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 135-141.
    4. Nicolò Russo & Rory McGee & Mariacristina De Nardi & Margherita Borella & Ross Abram, 2024. "Health inequality and economic disparities by race, ethnicity, and gender," IFS Working Papers W24/41, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    5. Zajacova, Anna & Siddiqi, Arjumand, 2022. "A comparison of health and socioeconomic gradients in health between the United States and Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    6. Sandra del Pino & Sol Beatriz Sánchez-Montoya & José Milton Guzmán & Oscar J. Mújica & Juan Gómez-Salgado & Carlos Ruiz-Frutos, 2019. "Health Inequalities amongst People of African Descent in the Americas, 2005–2017: A Systematic Review of the Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-24, September.

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