Racial differences in behavioral inpatient diagnosis: examining the mechanisms using the 2004 Florida Inpatient Discharge Data. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • This study used the 2004 Florida Inpatient Discharge Data to examine the existence and the underlying mechanisms of the African American (AA)/white differences in behavioral inpatient diagnosis across a diverse patient population. Findings suggest that discharges of AA patients in Florida were at least twice as likely to have received a primary psychotic vs. affective or substance-related diagnosis, and this held true after between-hospital differences were controlled for. Furthermore, AA (vs. white) race was associated with a ratio of 3.3 in the population rate of hospitalization with a primary psychotic diagnosis, as compared to a ratio of 0.8 and 0.7 for affective and substance-related disorders, respectively. These findings demonstrated the wide existence of racial differences in behavioral inpatient diagnosis and the important role of clinician diagnostic behaviors as opposed to systems-level factors (such as racial differences in access to care and care-seeking behaviors) in leading to observed differences.

publication date

  • May 28, 2008

Research

keywords

  • Black or African American
  • Mood Disorders
  • Psychotic Disorders
  • White People

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 47149094432

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1007/s11414-008-9116-4

PubMed ID

  • 18506628

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 35

issue

  • 3