Minorities and Disease Prevention in Pharmacy Practice

Minority populations tend to have a disproportionately higher incidence of several chronic diseases such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. Knowing disease prevalence information about certain minority populations can help pharmacists and other health care professionals focus disease prevention strategies. In addition, knowing which factors influence participation and adherence to lifestyle intervention strategies can aid health care professionals when designing programs that can effectively work to prevent and control chronic diseases. Given the current timing and discussion on health care reform, pharmacists should take this opportunity to design inter-professional programs aimed at reducing the burdens of chronic disease with the use of lifestyle intervention strategies. This article presents these issues in greater detail.