Spanish-Language Health Guides Aimed at Workers Older Than 50
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has released two new checklists to help Spanish-speaking men and women older than age 50 keep track of when they should have potentially life-saving screening exams done.
Not having diseases detected, or detected when a disease is advanced, can contribute to potentially avoidable hospitalizations and quality-of-life consequences. For example, AHRQ statistics show that Hispanic adults from both poor and wealthy communities are much more likely than comparable whites to be hospitalized for health problems that good quality outpatient care can prevent or control, such as uncontrolled diabetes and heart ailments.
Hispanic adults are more than two times as likely as white adults to be hospitalized for uncontrolled diabetes and its complications such as leg or foot amputations, glaucoma and other eye problems, and kidney failure. In addition, they are almost 1.5 times more likely to be hospitalized for congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and heart pain known as angina.
Other AHRQ data show that nearly 67 percent of Hispanics age 50 and older report never having had a screening colonoscopy to detect colon cancer, compared with 47 percent of whites.
AHRQ has also released an accompanying wall chart in Spanish--"Seguir sanos después de los 50"--providing information about recommended preventive services and can be posted in both clinical and community settings. The wall chart and checklists--"Mujeres: sigan sanas después de los 50" and "Hombres sigan sanos después de los 50"--show at a glance the evidence-based recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force regarding screening tests, preventive medicines, and healthy lifestyle behaviors for people 50 and older.
"Mujeres: sigan sanas después de los 50" and "Hombres: sigan sanos después de los 50," are available at www.ahrq.gov/consumer/women50sp.pdf and www.ahrq.gov/consumer/men50sp.pdf, respectively. The wall chart, "Seguir sanos después de los 50," is available at www.ahrq.gov/consumer/50pluspostersp.pdf.
The English-language versions--"Men: Stay Healthy at 50+, Your Checklists for Health" and "Women: Stay Healthy at 50+, Your Checklists for Health"--are available at www.ahrq.gov/ppip/men50.htm and www.ahrq.gov/ppip/women50.htm. The "Staying Healthy at 50+" timeline wall chart also is available at www.ahrq.gov/ppip/50plusposter.htm.