Study: Children in the South Face Higher Health Risks
GAINESVILLE, Fla.
Children living in the South are up to three times more likely to battle poor health and its consequences than those in all other regions of the United States, even if they receive the same medical care, a new University of Florida study reveals.
“Hurricane Katrina gave the world a glimpse of the disparities in the South,” says Dr. Jeffrey Goldhagen, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of community pediatrics at Florida’s College of Medicine. “Our research documents just how profoundly these disparities impact the health of children in the region.”
The study, published recently in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to statistically relate region of residence to measures of child health, Goldhagen says.
“In fact, we now believe that where a child lives may be one of the most powerful predictors of child health outcomes and disparities,” he says.
Among the health concerns documented in the study were obesity, mental illness, asthma, tooth decay and death.
The eight-member research team set out to determine whether living in the South has a negative effect on children’s health and whether a scientific approach could identify which states in the South have poorer health outcomes for children. UF researchers also sought to identify what factors specific to the South led to the poor health outcomes.
