Access to Care and Hospitalizations for Diabetes Complications Among Elderly Hispanics and African Americans in Texas

Chaudhary, Prateek. Access to Care and Hospitalizations for Diabetes Complications Among Elderly Hispanics and African Americans in Texas. Master of Public Health, August 2005, 52 pp, 6 tables, bibliography. The mismanagement of diabetes care, due to disparities in access, deficiencies in health insurance, or poor quality of primary care, can lead to preventable microvascular complications which force diabetics to utilize hospital emergency departments (ED). This study uses 2002 hospital discharge data from the Texas Health Care Information Collection to determine whether diabetic and elderly (65+) African Americans and Hispanics from Texas counties with a low ratio of physicians per, 1,000 population (PPR) are more likely to be admitted through the ED with complications from diabetes. Findings indicate that while Hispanic ethnicity is significantly associated with ED use as a source of admission, diabetics from counties with higher PPR are more likely to be admitted through the ED for diabetes complications than diabetics from counties with a lower PPR.