Racial and ethnic disparities in the pharmacologic management of diabetes mellitus among long-term care facility residents.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence of racial and ethnic disparities of antidiabetic treatment among residents of long-term care facilities in five states.


METHODS
Retrospective, cross-sectional study of 50,427 elderly nursing home residents with diabetes in New York, South Dakota, Kansas, Mississippi, and Ohio between 1993 and 1997.


RESULTS
Thirty to fifty percent of residents received no antidiabetic medications. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, comorbid conditions and diabetes severity, Blacks and Hispanics had lower rates of antidiabetic medication use than Whites, while Asians had slightly higher rates. For Native Americans the results were mixed, little disparity was seen when compared with Whites observed among New York nursing home residents, and while in South Dakota Native Americans had significantly lower rates of antidiabetic medication use than Whites.


CONCLUSIONS
Although lack of information on glycemic control and non-medical treatments do not allow us to comment on quality of diabetes care, more research is needed to understand why some nursing homes residents are less likely to receive antidiabetic medication.
Allsworth
Jenifer E
JE
Department of Community Health, Brown Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA. Jenifer_Allsworth@Brown.edu
Toppa
Rebecca
R
Palin
Nicole C
NC
Lapane
Kate L
KL
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology*; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000592:standards*; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000592:standards*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents