Improving the
Health of Women in
the United States
WORKSHOP SUMMARY
Thomas J. Plewes, Rapporteur
Committee on Population
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
and
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Health and Medicine Division
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
This activity was supported by the Office of Research on Women’s Health of the National Institutes of Health through Order No. HHSN26300073. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-43904-6
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-43904-3
Digital Object Identifier: 10.17226/23441
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Copyright 2016 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Improving the Health of Women in the United States: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23441.
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STEERING COMMITTEE FOR WORKSHOP ON IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF AMERICAN WOMEN
NANCY E. ADLER (Chair), Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco
CHLOE E. BIRD, Pardee RAND Graduate School and RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
MARK D. HAYWARD, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
JAMES S. HOUSE, Survey Research Center Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
JENNIFER KARAS MONTEZ, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
ROSE MARIE MARTINEZ, Co-Study Director
THOMAS J. PLEWES, Co-Study Director
MARY GHITELMAN, Program Assistant
COMMITTEE ON POPULATION
KATHLEEN MULLAN HARRIS (Chair), Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MARK D. HAYWARD, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
JERE R. BEHRMAN, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania
VICKI A. FREEDMAN, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
HILLARD S. KAPLAN, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico
SARA S. MCLANAHAN, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University
EMILIO A. PARRADO, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
DAVID R. WEIR, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
JOHN R. WILMOTH, Population Division, United Nations
PETER DONALDSON, Director
BOARD ON POPULATION HEALTH AND
PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE
ELLEN WRIGHT CLAYTON (Chair), Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University
HORTENSIA DE LOS ANGELES AMARO, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
JULIE A. BALDWIN, Department of Community and Family Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida
SHEILA P. BURKE, Malcolm Weiner Center for Social Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
BRUCE N. CALONGE, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado, Denver
SUSAN J. CURRY, College of Public Health, University of Iowa
CARLOS M. DEL RIO, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
SUSAN DENTZER, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
GARTH GRAHAM, Aetna Foundation
KENNETH W. KIZER, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, University of California, Davis
GRACE M. LEE, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital
HOWARD MARKEL, University of Michigan Medical School
RICARDO MARTINEZ, North Highland Worldwide Consulting, Atlanta, GA
LINDA A. MCCAULEY, School of Nursing, Emory University
ELENA O. NIGHTINGALE, Scholar in Residence, Institute of Medicine
DANIEL POLSKY, Perelman School of Medicine and Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
JOHN A. RICH, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University
JOSHUA M. SHARFSTEIN, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
STEVEN M. TEUTSCH, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles
JAMES N. WEINSTEIN, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
WINSTON F. WONG, Disparities Improvement and Quality Initiatives, Kaiser Permanente
WILLIAM A. YASNOFF, National Health Information Infrastructure Advisors, Arlington, VA
ROSE MARIE MARTINEZ, Director
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Acknowledgments
This document summarizes the discussions and presentations of a workshop on subject of the health of women in the United States. The workshop was convened under the direction of the Committee on Population and the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The workshop was sponsored by the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health.
We thank the experts on women’s health and demography who served on the steering committee for this workshop. They provided invaluable guidance in developing the workshop, securing expert presentations, conducting the workshop, and serving as presenters as well. Although the steering committee played a central role in designing and conducting the workshop, it did not actively participate in the writing of this workshop summary.
The presentations in the workshop were organized into four topical sessions, each designed to shed light on important determinants, consequences, effects, and issues attending the relative disadvantage of women in the United States in comparison with women in other economically advanced nations. In all, 12 presenters contributed presentations in the 1-day workshop held in Washington, D.C., September 25, 2015. The presentations provoked an extraordinarily rich discussion among the participants, and this summary attempts to capture both the formal presentations and the ensuing discussion.
The excellent work of the staff of the Committee on Population and the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice in developing, organizing, and supporting the workshop is very much appreciated. Thomas J. Plewes, the co-study director, and Mary Ghitelman, the project assistant, devoted long hours to ensure a successful event. Plewes also served as rapporteur, distilling the gist of the presentations and the essence of the discussions for this summary.
This workshop summary has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this workshop summary: Eileen M. Crimmins, Davis School of Gerontology and Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California; Mark D. Hayward, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin; and Afaf I. Meleis, Nursing and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they did not see the final draft of the workshop summary before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Eileen Crimmins, Davis School of Gerontology and Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California. Appointed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the author and the institution.
Peter Donaldson, Director
Committee on Population
Rose Marie Martinez, Director
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Contents
1 THE RELATIVE HEALTH DISADVANTAGE OF U.S. WOMEN
The Report on U.S. Health in International Perspective
2 INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE DIFFERENCES IN WOMEN’S HEALTH OUTCOMES
Quality of Care for Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes
3 SOCIOECONOMIC AND BEHAVIORAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE DIFFERENCES IN MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY
