title: Pediatrician qualifications and asthma management behaviors and their association with patient race/ethnicity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to understand if pediatrician characteristics and asthma assessment and treatment varied in association with the proportion of African-American and Latino children in the pediatrician's practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 500 American Academy of Pediatrics members between November 2005 and May 2006. Standardized vignettes were used to test how different indicators of a patient's asthma status affect pediatrician asthma assessments and recommendations. Linear and logistic regression models were used to examine the association of pediatrician assessments and treatment recommendations for these vignettes, respectively, with the proportion of reported African-American and Latino children seen in their practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 270 respondents (response rate = 54%). Based on pediatrician-reported percentage of minority patients, there were no differences in board certification status, recognition of poorly controlled asthma nor in the likelihood of appropriately increasing long-term controller medications to treat poorly controlled asthma (p > 0.05 for all analyses).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Caring primarily for minority children by AAP pediatricians appears unrelated to training qualifications or in their reported knowledge of how to appropriately assess and treat asthma. Therefore, studies of asthma care disparities should focus on understanding the knowledge-base of non-AAP pediatric providers who care for minority populations and exploring other potential contributory provider-level factors (e.g. communication skills).
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA , Los Angeles, CA , USA .
authors.forename: Sande O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Okelo
authors.forename: Kristin A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Riekert
authors.forename: Michelle N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Eakin
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bilderback
authors.forename: Gregory B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Diette
authors.forename: Cynthia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Rand
authors.forename: Gayane
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yenokyan
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000730:Androstadienes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology*; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002568:Certification; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D000068298:Fluticasone; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D010372:Pediatrics; D010820:Physicians; D044469:Racial Groups; D013038:Specialization
chemical_list: D000730:Androstadienes; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents; D000068298:Fluticasone