Racial/Ethnic Differences in Use of Health Care Services for Diabetes Management

Research demonstrates consistent racial/ethnic disparities in access to and use of health care services for a variety of chronic conditions. Yet we know little about whether these disparities exist for use of health care services for diabetes management. Racial/ethnic minorities disproportionately suffer from diabetes, complications from diabetes, and diabetes-related mortality. Proper diabetes management can reduce the risk of complications and premature mortality. Using a large national data set (N = 37,705) of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American U.S. adults aged 65 years and older who have been diagnosed with diabetes, we examine three specific types of health care provider (HCP) use for diabetes management: number of times seen by a health care professional for diabetes, number of times feet have been checked by a health care professional, and number of visits for a glycosylated hemoglobin check. We found that net of controls for a variety of demographic and socioeconomic characteristic...