title: Treatment disparities in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: We sought to identify racial disparities in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). We identified 307 incident PD cases using Pennsylvania State Medicaid claims, and extracted claims for medications, physical therapy, and healthcare visits for the 6 months after diagnosis. After controlling for age, sex, and geography, African-Americans were four times less likely than whites to receive any PD treatment (odds ratio, 0.24; 95% confidence interval, 0.09-0.64), especially indicated medications. In a group with the same healthcare insurance, disparities in PD treatment exist. Physician and community awareness of these racial differences in PD treatment is the first step in addressing healthcare disparities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. dahodwan@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Nabila
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dahodwala
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Noll
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siderowf
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Mandell
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010414:Pennsylvania; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents