Disparities of care in veterans with Parkinson's disease.
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.
Cheng
E M
EM
Parkinson's Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, 11301 Wilshire Boulevard, B500, ML 127, Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA. Eric.Cheng@va.gov
Siderowf
A D
AD
Swarztrauber
K
K
Lee
M
M
Vassar
S
S
Jacob
E
E
Eisa
M S
MS
Vickrey
B G
BG
D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001213:Asian; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014728:Veterans; D044465:White People