Differences by Race/Ethnicity in the use of Preventive Care of Adults with ID/DD
On April 25, 2013, NCI staff displayed a poster at Project Intersect: Health Disparities Research at the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Disability: A National Conference. The conference was put on by the Oregon Health and Science University, and aimed to inform participants of racial and ethnic disparities in health faced by individuals with ID/DD, share research and brainstorm priorities for future research and action.
NCI staff presented a poster entitled Race/Ethnicity and the Use of Preventive Care Among Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The poster detailed research in which we looked at differences in receipt of preventive care based on race/ethnicity. We looked at results from the 2011-2012 administration of the Adult Consumer Survey and for the purposes of the analysis, we looked at the race/ethnicities of Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic African American and Hispanic. The final data set included 11,224 people. Table 1 demonstrates the race/ethnic breakdown of the sample.
Table 1: Race/ethnicity of sample
|
Race/Ethnicity |
Frequency |
Percent of total |
|
African American, Non-Hispanic |
2,251 |
20.1% |
|
Hispanic |
457 |
4.1% |
|
White, Non-Hispanic |
8,516 |
75.9% |
|
Total |
11,224 |
100% |
Our analyses revealed that at least some differences based on race/ethnicity in use of preventive care may actually be the result of the effects of other demographic characteristics. These demographic characteristics include, for example, age, gender, state, primary language, level of mobility, type of residence, support needed for behavioral issues, etc.
After controlling for other demographic characteristics, there were significant differences by race/ethnicity in the receipt of the following preventive care:
- Has had dentist visit in past year
- African American, Non-Hispanic respondents are significantly less likely than White, Non-Hispanic respondents to have had a dentist visit in the past year
- Has had eye exam in past year
- African American, Non-Hispanic respondents are significantly more likely than White, Non-Hispanic respondents to have had an eye exam in the past year
- Has had flu vaccine in past year
- African American, Non-Hispanic respondents are significantly less likely than White, Non-Hispanic respondents to have had a flu vaccine in the past year
After controlling for other demographic characteristics, there were not significant differences by race/ethnicity in the receipt of the following preventive care:
- Has primary care doctor
- Has had physical exam in past year
- Has had hearing test in the past five years
- Has ever had pneumonia vaccine
These findings were very interesting, and opened the door for more research.
If you have any questions on this analysis, feel free to contact Dorothy at dhiersteiner@hsri.org