Health perceptions and medical care opinions of inner-city adults with sickle cell disease or asthma compared with those of their siblings.

Inner-city adults (n = 108) with a chronic disease (sickle cell disease or asthma) and their unaffected siblings (n = 50) were interviewed and ratings of health perceptions and opinions about medical care were compared. Persons with a chronic disease reported unfavorable ratings of their health (P less than .001). Their siblings reported moderately favorable health perceptions but much worry and concern about their health. When compared with the asthma subgroup, persons with sickle cell disease reported more adverse ratings of health outlook susceptibility to illness, sickness orientation, humaneness of medical care, and satisfaction with medical care (P less than .05). These observations demonstrate low health perceptions in adults with two chronic medical conditions and more negative perceptions in persons with sickle cell disease. They indicate possible opportunities for improving medical care for patients with these conditions to achieve better perceptions of health, outlook, and medical services.