If physicians needed more evidence of the disparity in well-being and health among children of different ethnicities/races, the Palo Alto-based Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health delivered a well-timed and thorough look at these issues in California.

The Foundation recruited Kenneth Land, PhD, of Duke University, to create a California Index of Child and Youth Well-Being, using data from 1995 through 2006. This index is modeled after his national Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI), released annually since 2004.

Generally, using a base score of 100 in 1995, children’s health and well-being are increasing. On the whole, results show that the well-being of children is getting better - in California, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles County. Using 1995 data as a base year with a score of 100, child well-being in California improved by about 16% from 1995 to 2006.

The study finds that in the Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties), child well-being also improved but by a slightly smaller amount (14%) than the state.

Broken down by ethnicity/race, however, Bay Area African-American children's score improved only 3% over the decade, compared with 13% throughout the State. Likewise, Latino children’s base score improved 9% here in the Bay Area, but 12% in the state. The scores for children who are Asian improved 15% both in the Bay Area and in the State, while Caucasian children’s scores improved 10% here and 12% overall.

In Land’s survey, the health indicators studied include:

• Infant mortality rate;
• Infants born at low birth weight;
• Child/youth death rate;
• Injury hospitalization rate;
• Asthma hospitalization rate; and
• Women receiving prenatal care in the first trimester

The full report can be accessed at the Lucile Packard Foundation’s web site:

http://www.lpfch.org/