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Are health and health care disparities related?
Sometimes.
Disparities
in health care can result in health disparities. Sometimes, however, they
do not. For example, research has shown that African American veterans
receive fewer heart surgeries than do Caucasian veterans with similar
conditions. However, when researchers examine the impact of that health
care disparity, they find that African American and Caucasian veterans
have the same rate of survival after 6 months, 1 year and 3 years.
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In other cases, health disparities happen
even when there are no identifiable health care disparities. For
example, in England everyone has access to the National Health System
or NHS. Despite equal access to health care, research has found
that workers who earn less money do not live as long as workers
who earn more money.
In
some cases, disparities in health care come from the preferences
of the patients. For example, African Americans are more likely
to refuse surgery such as joint replacement surgery or heart surgery.
However, even when the number of refusals has been considered, this
has not been shown to account for all disparities in care. Some
note that this aversion to specific treatments may be due to lack
of familiarity with the surgery, rather than free and informed decision-making.
(2-4)
 
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- Peterson et al: Impact of Race on Cardiac Care
and Outcomes in Veterans With Acute Myocardial Infarction. Medical
Care 2002 Jan: 40(1): 86-96.
- Kressin N, Clark J, Whittle J, East M, Peterson
E, Chang B, Rosen A, Ren X, Alley L, Kroupa L, Collins T, Peterson L:
Racial Differences in Health-Related Beliefs, Attitudes, and Experiences
of VA Cardiac Patients. Medical Care. Jan 2002; 40:1; (I-72 –I-85).
AND Kwoh CK, Burant CJ, Siminoff LA, Ibrahim SA.
- Do African American and White veterans with chronic
knee and hip pain differ with respect to their knowledge about joint
replacement surgery and its risk and benefits?: AHSR 2000 Annual Meeting
Abstract; AHSR, 2000.
- Peterson L, Wright S, Peterson E, Daley J.: Impact
of Race on Cardiac Care and Outcomes in Veterans with Acute Myocardial
Infarction. Medical Care. Jan 2002; 40:1; (I-86 –I-96).
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