Jiao Yang1, Aman Nijjar2, Hude Quan3, Baiju R Shah4, Doreen Rabi5, Andrew Ignaszewski6, Nadia A Khan2. 1. Division of Cardiology, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada. Electronic address: jiao1010@gmail.com. 2. Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada; Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, BC, Canada. 3. Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, AB, Canada. 4. Division of Endocrinology, University of Toronto, ON, Canada. 5. Division of Endocrinology, University of Calgary, AB, Canada. 6. Division of Cardiology, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada.
Abstract
AIMS: We sought to determine whether there are differences in health resource utilization among South Asian (SA), Chinese and White patients with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus. METHODS: We used province-wide administrative data from British Columbia, Canada (1997-2006) to determine proportion of patients with ≥2 visits/year for all outpatient and family physician (FP) visits, proportion of patients with at least one annual visit to specialists, ophthalmology/optometry and hospital admissions by ethnic group. RESULTS: There were 9529 South Asian, 14,084 Chinese and 143,630 White patients with newly diagnosed diabetes in the study. Over 90% of each of the ethnic groups visited their FP ≥2 visits/year. Chinese patients were less likely to visit FP, ophthalmology/optometrists and specialists compared to White patients. SA patients had fewer ophthalmology/optometry visits compared to White populations. White patients had higher rates of hospitalization. CONCLUSION: Although all groups had high proportion of patients with appropriate frequency of FP visits, other aspects of health care utilization varied significantly by ethnicity.
AIMS: We sought to determine whether there are differences in health resource utilization among South Asian (SA), Chinese and Whitepatients with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus. METHODS: We used province-wide administrative data from British Columbia, Canada (1997-2006) to determine proportion of patients with ≥2 visits/year for all outpatient and family physician (FP) visits, proportion of patients with at least one annual visit to specialists, ophthalmology/optometry and hospital admissions by ethnic group. RESULTS: There were 9529 South Asian, 14,084 Chinese and 143,630 Whitepatients with newly diagnosed diabetes in the study. Over 90% of each of the ethnic groups visited their FP ≥2 visits/year. Chinese patients were less likely to visit FP, ophthalmology/optometrists and specialists compared to Whitepatients. SA patients had fewer ophthalmology/optometry visits compared to White populations. Whitepatients had higher rates of hospitalization. CONCLUSION: Although all groups had high proportion of patients with appropriate frequency of FP visits, other aspects of health care utilization varied significantly by ethnicity.