In recent years there have been numerous efforts to document the health status and associated risk factors of American minorities. Review efforts to date (by staff with input from expert consultants) have raised several concerns, an important one being the heterogeneity of oral health status characteristics within diverse minority populations. Extensive literature reviews have been conducted to assess needs for additional research in Hispanic communities and to evaluate appropriateness of Healthy People 2000 special target objectives. All analyses of major data sets conducted within the DEODP consider racial/ethnic differences in disease prevalence and oral health practices. For example, all analyses of the NHANES III data have included race/ethnicity comparisons. As more fully described in another project summary, DPHPB staff is working with a Hispanic population to study health behaviors of mothers and young children. A request for proposal was released, responses have been received and are being evaluated to conduct a feasibility study of a community-based health promotion strategy in a minority community. This study is designed to increase focus on Black and Hispanic minority children and youth and address problems of participation by these minority youth.
