Use of major therapeutic procedures: are Hispanics treated differently than non-Hispanic Whites.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines whether Hispanics and non-Hispanic White patients, hospitalized with one of a wide range of conditions, receive major therapeutic procedures at the same rates.


METHODS
The study examined hospital stays of Hispanic and non-Hispanic White adults using 1993 discharge abstract data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Database for California, Florida and New York, states containing half the Hispanic population in the country. Logistic regression modeling was used to identify the effect of ethnicity on the likelihood of receiving a major therapeutic procedure separately for 63 conditions, controlling for age, gender, disease severity, health insurance, income level of patient's community, and hospital characteristics.


RESULTS
Hispanics are less likely than non-Hispanic Whites to receive major therapeutic procedures for 38% of the 63 conditions examined and more likely for 6% of the conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
This study identified many conditions with apparent variations in treatment based on patient ethnicity. Future studies should examine reasons for disparities between ethnic groups, why these disparities occur for some conditions and not others, and appropriateness of procedures received.
Andrews
R M
RM
Agency for Health Research and Quality (USDHHS), Rockville, MD 20852, USA. randrews@ahrq.gov
Elixhauser
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002140:California; D004194:Disease / Q000145:classification; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011287:Prejudice; D013812:Therapeutics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*