HRSA - women's health

	U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA NEWS ROOM http://newsroom.hrsa.gov

November 22, 2004

Contact: HRSA Press Office
301-443-3376

HRSA Report Tracks Impact of Lifestyle Choices, Race and Ethnicity on Health of U.S. Women

HRSA’s third annual survey of women’s health – Women’s Health USA 2004 – is now available to the public. The report highlights the impact of physical activity, diet and nutrition, overweight and obesity on women’s health; it also examines racial and ethnic disparities for 56 health measures.

Among the report’s main findings are these items:

§         Only 21 percent of non-Hispanic black and Hispanic women over age 18 engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity in 2002, compared to 31 percent of non-Hispanic white women. Racial and ethnic differences are also evident in rates of overweight and obesity with 65 percent of non-Hispanic black women and 52 percent of Hispanic women considered overweight, compared to 44 percent of non-Hispanic white women.

·        Estimates of women living with AIDS rose between 1998 and 2002 from 57,338 to 82,764, but the number of men diagnosed with AIDS is still more than three times the number of women. In 2002, non-Hispanic black and Hispanic women were a quarter of the female population but represented more than three-quarters of women living with AIDS.

·        Non-Hispanic white women had the highest rate of arthritis, according to 2002 data, with 263.7 per 1,000 affected. Non-Hispanic black women followed at a rate of 240.8 per 1,000, with Hispanic women experiencing arthritis at a rate of 151.3 per 1,000 women. Among men and women age 65-74, the arthritis rate was far higher for women: 500.8 per 1,000 women compared to 388.1 per 1,000 men.

·        In 2002, 17 percent of pregnant women age 15–44 smoked cigarettes in the past month, compared to 31 percent of non-pregnant women of the same age group. Among pregnant women, 24 percent of non-Hispanic whites smoked cigarettes, compared to 7 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and 6 percent of Hispanics. Among non-pregnant women, American Indian/Alaska Native women reported the highest rate of cigarette smoking, 47.5 percent.

Women’s Health USA 2004 is available through the HRSA Information Center at 1-888-ASK-HRSA or at http://www.ask.hrsa.gov. The data book will also be available online at www.hrsa.gov/womenshealth.