Health care discrimination, processes of care, and diabetes patients’ health status

Objective We examined whether diabetes patients report discrimination when seeking health care, whether problems with interpersonal processes of care (IPC) were associated with discrimination reports, and the linkage between discrimination and patients’ health. Methods 810 diabetes patients were surveyed. Surveys were linked to hemoglobin A1c (A1C) and total cholesterol test results. Results 14% of participants reported experiencing discrimination in health care during the prior year, including discrimination due to their race (8%), education or income (9%), age (7%), and gender (10% of women). Patients with poorer than average ratings of their IPC had 2–8 times greater risk of reporting health care discrimination. Patients reporting health care discrimination had A1C levels that were higher than other patients (P=0.002), more symptoms (P