Disparities in utilization of outpatient rehabilitative care following hip fracture hospitalization with respect to race and ethnicity.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the prevalence of discharge home to self-care after hip fracture hospitalization among the elderly in 3 racial groups: whites, Hispanics, and blacks.


METHODS
Secondary data analysis.


METHODS
US hospitals.


METHODS
Patients (N=34,203) aged 65 and older with Medicare insurance discharged after hip fracture hospitalization between 2001 and 2005.


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Discharge home to self-care.


RESULTS
Bivariate analyses showed higher rates of discharge home to self-care among minorities, 16.4% for Hispanics, 8.7% for blacks, and 5.9% for whites. Hispanics had 3-fold higher odds of being discharged home to self-care, and blacks had about 50% higher odds of being discharged home to self-care after adjusting for age, sex, Klabunde's comorbidity index, income, year of admission, type of hip fracture, surgical stabilization procedure, and length of hospital stay.


CONCLUSIONS
The higher rate of discharge home to self-care among minorities underscores the risk of suboptimal outpatient rehabilitative care among minorities with hip fracture.
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
Tracy U
TU
Nguyen-Oghalai
Kenneth J
KJ
Ottenbacher
Yong-Fang
YF
Kuo
Helen
H
Wu
Michael
M
Grecula
Karl
K
Eschbach
James S
JS
Goodwin
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012648:Self Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data