Integrating multiple social statuses in health disparities research: the case of lung cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To illustrate the complex patterns that emerge when race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and gender are considered simultaneously in health care disparities research and to outline the needed research to understand them by using disparities in lung cancer risks, treatment, and outcomes as an example.

Principal findings

SES, gender, and race/ethnicity are social categories that are robust predictors of variations in health and health services utilization. These are usually considered separately, but intersectionality theory indicates that the impact of each depends on the others. Each reflects historically and culturally contingent variations in social, economic, and political status. Distinct patterns of risk and resilience emerge at the intersections of mul

SUBMITTER: Williams DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3418828 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature