Racial Disparities in Diabetes Treatment - A New Study
That many racial health disparities exist is not news. What might be news, though, is that a new diabetes study found that disparities in treatment and outcomes may be due to physicians treating everyone the same rather than treating patients differently.
The study, published yesterday in the The Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at the treatment of 6,814 patients with diabetes. Adjusting for socioeconomic and other factors, the study found that the larger racial disparities (66%-75%) in the measured outcomes (LDL levels, blood pressure, and hemoglobin A1C) were found among patients receiving the same treatment from the same physician. Providing the same treatment recommendations, such as diet changes, across the board proved to be an unsuccessful treatment option.
You can read more about the study here, and of course in The Archives of Internal Medicine. You might also check out Georgetown University’s National Center for Cultural Competence which provides education and assistance to improve cultural and linguistic competency across systems and in organizations. The Center offers a Cultural Competence Health Practitioner Assessment (CCHPA) which is a self-assessment tool intended to “promote cultural and linguistic competence as essential approaches for practitioners in the elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic groups.”
Sources:
National Center for Cultural Competence
“Doctors Miss Cultural Needs, Study Says” - The New York Times, June 10, 2008
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