Report finds significant child health disparities

A new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has found that middle class children are five times more likely to be in less-than-optimal health than upper class children (Source: "Child-health report shows wide gaps according to wealth, education," Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 8, 2008).

The study also found major variances in the health of children based on the education of their parents. In Ohio, for example, 11 children per 1,000 born to mothers who didn't graduate from high school will die before reaching their first birthday. That number drops to slightly more than four per 1,000 when a mother is a college graduate.

"The bad news is that we have these very large gaps, which can be thought of as shortfalls in the health potential of our children," said lead author Dr. Paula Braveman. "But the patterns we see tell us that these gaps are fixable if we as a society put our will to the task."

The findings were released in a chartbook called "America's Health Starts with Healthy Children: How do States Compare?"

In conjuction with the release of the chartbook, the Robert Wood Johnson also launched its Education and Health Calculator, an interactive tool that lets viewers look at state- and county-level data on the link between parent education level and child mortality.