title: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Among Employees at Large Firms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether race/ethnic disparities in the prevalence of chronic health conditions exist among an employed population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured racial and ethnic differences in health across a national sample of workers in 46 large US businesses. We examined 15 chronic conditions for six ethnic/racial groups: African American, Hispanic, white, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Two or More Races. We identified the presence of each condition, using health care claims data. We report unadjusted and adjusted prevalence statistics for each race and ethnic group, controlling for confounding variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Native Americans and African Americans had a significantly higher prevalence for almost half of the conditions studied compared to one or more other group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Employers should be cautious when initiating programs that may unfairly discriminate against employee groups with inherent medical conditions associated with certain race and ethnic groups.
authors.affiliation: From Truven Health Analytics (Drs Henke, Lopez-Gonzales, Wang, and Goetzel), Cambridge, Mass; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (Dr Goetzel), Bethesda, Md; and Prudential Financial (Dr Montes, Mr Winick, and Dr Crighton), Newark, NJ.
authors.forename: Rachel Mosher
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Henke
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lopez-Gonzales
authors.forename: Degang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ron Z
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Goetzel
authors.forename: Myrtho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montes
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Winick
authors.forename: K Andrew
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Crighton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001168:Arthritis / Q000208:ethnology; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000208:ethnology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult