Ambulatory medical care among adult black Americans: the hospital emergency room.

This paper examines how sociodemographic factors (income, education, employment status, age, gender, insurance coverage, and place of residence) are related to the use of hospital emergency rooms for serious personal problems in a nationally representative sample of adult black Americans. Bivariate analyses indicated that low income, unemployed, and older respondents were most likely to use the emergency room. Gender, education, insurance coverage, and place of residence were not related to emergency room use. Multivariate analyses revealed that the relationship of age to utilization could be explained by the high prevalence of physical health complaints among the old. The poor and unemployed remained significantly more likely (than the non-poor and those with jobs) to use the emergency room when all other predictors were taken into account. The implications of these findings for health services delivery to the urban black poor and the general illness behavior of black Americans are discussed.