title: Racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care among U.S. adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine racial/ethnic disparities in medical and oral health status, access to care, and use of services in U.S. adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary data analysis of the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. The survey focus was children 0-17 years old.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted for white, African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and multiracial adolescents 10-17 years old (n = 48,742) to identify disparities in 40 measures of health and health care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Certain disparities were especially marked for specific racial/ethnic groups and multiracial youth. These disparities included suboptimal health status and lack of a personal doctor or nurse for Latinos; suboptimal oral health and not receiving all needed medications in the past year for African Americans; no physician visit or mental health care in the past year for Asian/Pacific Islanders; overweight/obesity, uninsurance, problems getting specialty care, and no routine preventive visit in the past year for American Indian/Alaska Natives; and not receiving all needed dental care in multiracial youth.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  U.S. adolescents experience many racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care. These findings indicate a need for ongoing identification and monitoring of and interventions for disparities for all five major racial/ethnic groups and multiracial adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9063, USA. may.lau@utsouthwestern.edu
authors.forename: May
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flores
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009909:Oral Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American