Racial/Ethnic Differences in Access to and Use of Physician Diabetes Care

• In Event: 322 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Race, Ethnicity and Health

Abstract

Racial/ethnic minorities disproportionately suffer from diabetes, complications from diabetes, and diabetes-related mortality. Proper diabetes physician care can reduce the risk of complications and premature mortality. Using a large national data set (N=20,171) of white, black, Hispanic, and Native American adults in the US who have been diagnosed with diabetes, we examine three specific types of physician care use for diabetes management: number of times seen by a healthcare professional for diabetes, number of times feet have been checked by a health care professional, and number of visits for a glycosylated hemoglobin check. We found that net of controls for a variety of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans had significantly more visits to a health care provider for their diabetes than whites. Blacks and Native Americans had significantly more physician feet checks and significant more visits for glycosylated hemoglobin checks than whites. Our results suggest that the reduced access to health care services among racial minorities that is traditionally found in research on racial disparities in health care does not hold for access to diabetes physician care, where racial/ethnic minorities are actually more likely to use care than are whites.

Authors

• Raeven Faye Chandler, Pennsylvania State University

• Shannon M. Monnat, Pennsylvania State University