Agency News and Notes

Hispanics are hospitalized at higher rates for potentially preventable hospitalizations than whites in both wealthy and poor communities

Hispanic adults from both poor and wealthy communities are much more likely than whites to be hospitalized for health problems such as uncontrolled diabetes and heart ailments, according to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Wealthy communities in this report have average annual household incomes of $62,000 or greater.

AHRQ's analysis found that in 2006:

• Hispanic adults were more than two times as likely as white adults to be hospitalized for uncontrolled diabetes and its complications such as leg or foot amputations, glaucoma and other eye problems, and kidney failure.
• Hispanic adults were almost 1.5 times more likely than whites to be hospitalized for congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and heart pain known as angina.
• In contrast, hospitalization rates were about the same for Hispanics and whites with chronic respiratory conditions (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
• In wealthy communities, Hispanics were 1.8 times more likely to be hospitalized for diabetes complications and nearly one-fifth more likely to be admitted for heart ailments than whites. The ratios were similar in the poorest communities.

The report uses statistics from a special disparities analysis file created from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) 2006 State Inpatient Databases (SID). For details, see Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations among Hispanic Adults, 2006, HCUP Statistical Brief #61 (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs.jsp).

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