title: Utilization of health resources in South Asian, Chinese and white patients with diabetes mellitus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to determine whether there are differences in health resource utilization among South Asian (SA), Chinese and White patients with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used province-wide administrative data from British Columbia, Canada (1997-2006) to determine proportion of patients with ≥2 visits/year for all outpatient and family physician (FP) visits, proportion of patients with at least one annual visit to specialists, ophthalmology/optometry and hospital admissions by ethnic group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 9529 South Asian, 14,084 Chinese and 143,630 White patients with newly diagnosed diabetes in the study. Over 90% of each of the ethnic groups visited their FP ≥2 visits/year. Chinese patients were less likely to visit FP, ophthalmology/optometrists and specialists compared to White patients. SA patients had fewer ophthalmology/optometry visits compared to White populations. White patients had higher rates of hospitalization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although all groups had high proportion of patients with appropriate frequency of FP visits, other aspects of health care utilization varied significantly by ethnicity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada. Electronic address: jiao1010@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada; Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Aman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nijjar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Hude
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, University of Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Baiju R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Doreen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rabi
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ignaszewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada; Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Nadia A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors; D044465:White People
keywords: Diabetes; Ethnicity; Health resource utilization