Disparities of care in veterans with Parkinson's disease

Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2008;14(1):8-14. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2007.05.001. Epub 2007 Aug 16.

Abstract

Background: Disparities of Parkinson's disease (PD) care have not been assessed.

Methods: We examined the medical records of 309 (83%) non-Hispanic White and 65 (17%) non-White Los Angeles veterans with PD from 1998 to 2004 to determine if care quality as measured by 10 PD indicators different by race/ethnicity.

Results: In multivariate modeling, adherence to indicators was higher among non-Hispanic Whites (71% vs. 65%, risk ratio 1.15, 95% CI [1.07-1.32]) compared to non-Whites. Differences in adherence by race/ethnicity were greatest for depression treatment (p<0.05).

Conclusions: We detected disparities in quality of PD care, particularly in depression treatment. Future research should determine causes for these so that interventions can be designed to reduce such disparities.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Asian
  • Black or African American
  • Cohort Studies
  • Hispanic or Latino
  • Humans
  • Indians, North American
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parkinson Disease / ethnology*
  • Parkinson Disease / therapy*
  • Quality Indicators, Health Care
  • Quality of Health Care*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Veterans*
  • White People