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Family physician ethnicity influences quality of diabetes care for Chinese but not South Asian patients

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Aims — To determine whether sharing the same ethnicity as their family physician influenced the quality of diabetes care for Chinese and South Asian patients in Ontario, Canada.

Methods — The researchers conducted two related studies: a population-based cohort study of Chinese and South Asian patients with incident diabetes using healthcare administrative data (n = 49,484), and a cross-sectional study of Chinese and South Asian patients with established diabetes using data collected directly from their family physicians’ clinical records (n = 416). In both studies, quality of care measures were compared between patients whose family physicians were or were not from the same ethnic group.

Results — In the cohort study, Chinese patients whose family physicians were also Chinese were more likely to have a diabetes-related family physician visit and appropriate HbA1c and cholesterol testing. In the cross-sectional study, they were more likely to have foot examinations, to have microalbuminuria testing, and to achieve recommended treatment targets for HbA1c and for LDL-cholesterol. In contrast, for South Asian patients, most quality measures in either study did not differ by physician ethnicity.

Conclusions — Having a family physician from the same ethnic group was associated with better quality of diabetes care for Chinese but not for South Asian patients.

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Citation

Shah BR, Hwee J, Anand SS, Austin PC, Manuel DG, Hux JE. Prim Care Diabetes. 2015; 9(6):432-8. Epub 2015 Mar 8.