BOSTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Inhaled steroid medications for asthma, which reduce the need for patients to be hospitalized, were less likely to be prescribed for minority patients.
In a study published in the January issue of the journal Medical Care, investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Policy examined how disparities in healthcare changed over time.
Researchers analyzed data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 1989 to 1998. They identified 3,671 physician visits by patients with asthma during the years studied, determined whether or not inhaled steroids were prescribed or administered during those visits, and then analyzed information on patients' age and race or ethnicity.
During the first two years studied, minority patients were less than half as likely to receive inhaled steroid medications as were non-minority patients, but the overall difference in usage between minority and non-minority patients resolved by the mid-1990s.
However, the change reflected increased usage only among African-American patients. The low rate of prescription for Hispanic patients remained virtually unchanged.
