title: Health care disparity in the care of the vascular patient.
abstract: Peripheral vascular care continues to mature into a well-developed multidisciplinary subspecialty. Continued growth as a collaborative subspecialty will require delivering the highest quality medical care to all Americans. US census projections predict that greater than one half of all American citizens will identify themselves as ethnic or racial minorities by 2050. Evolving research has established significant health care disparity, or preventable differences in disease incidence and vascular procedure outcomes associated with socioeconomic, gender, language, geographic, racial, and ethnic variables. As a necessary step in the evolution of vascular care, practitioners, societies, and vascular departments should begin to adopt proven practices that enhance our ability to deliver equal care to an increasingly diverse American population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. lee.kirksey@uphs.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kirksey
mesh_terms: D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054525:Minority Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology