BOSTON, June 11 (UPI) -- A U.S. study said black patients with diabetes are less likely to receive recommended components of care than white patients.
The Harvard Medical School report, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, said black patients are also less likely to achieve long-term control of blood glucose, blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels than whites, even when they have the same doctor. Black patients are also more likely to develop diabetes-related eye and kidney disease and to have lower limbs amputated, the Journal of the American Medical Association said in a release.
"Identifying the underlying reasons and potential solutions for these differences in quality of care and outcomes is a high priority," the report said.
The study, led by Dr. Thomas D. Seequist of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, analyzed medical records from 4,556 white patients and 2,258 black patients treated by 90 primary care physicians in Massachusetts.
"Our data suggest that the problem of racial disparities is not characterized by only a few physicians providing markedly unequal care, but that such differences in care are spread across the entire system, requiring the implementation of system-wide solutions," the report said.
