Differences in quality of diabetes care between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether differences exist in the quality of diabetes care delivered to the Arab and Jewish populations in Jerusalem.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted in West Jerusalem's 4 major hospitals. Participants were patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, 45 to 75 years of age, who were insured by Israel's largest health maintenance organization (HMO) and admitted to an emergency room (ER) between May and June 2004 for any medical cause. Hospital files were reviewed, patients were interviewed, and computerized data were retrieved from the HMO's database.


RESULTS
Arab patients received less nutritional counseling (odds ratio [OR] = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.24-0.85; P = .013), fewer recommendations about and less support in performing physical activities (OR = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.24-0.74; P = .003), and less guidance in performing self foot examinations (OR = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.32-0.96; P = .035).


CONCLUSIONS
Arab patients in Jerusalem receive lower quality diabetes care compared with Jewish residents.
Tirosh
Amit
A
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel. tiroshamit@gmail.com
Calderon-Margalit
Ronit
R
Mazar
Marianna
M
Stern
Zvi
Z
D000368:Aged; D018912:Arabs; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000592:standards; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011787:Quality of Health Care