While many Americans enjoy good health and access to primary care, there are some populations, such as those from low socioeconomic positions (SEP) and racial and ethnic minorities, who experience disproportionately higher rates of disease, fewer treatment options, and reduced access to care.

At the Viswanath Lab, we are engaged in multiple projects to address health disparities. Several of these projects, examine how communication inequalities and SEP relate to health disparities. Communication inequality is defined as the differences among social groups in their ability to generate, disseminate, and use of information at the macro level and to access, process, and act on information at the individual level [1]. Socioeconomic position is defined by one's income, education level, and occupation.

The following statistics provide a snapshot of the health disparities that exist among low SEP populations and racial and ethic minorities:

Race

• Incidence rates of colon cancer among African-Americans are 55.6 percent compared to 47.3 percent among Whites [2].
• 9.8 percent of non-Hispanic Whites over the age of 20 have diabetes compared to 14.7 percent of non-Hispanic Blacks [2].
• The proportion of new AIDS cases was over three times higher for Hispanics than for non-Hispanic Whites [3].