Important gender and racial differences in attitudes towards pain, health, and healthcare exist. We also found significant racial and gender differences in attitudes and perceptions regarding healthcare and pain management experiences in this study. Regardless of the subject’s gender, there were significant differences in the belief that the patient’s gender affected access to healthcare when [...]

Pain is the major reason for healthcare utilization, significantly affecting health and well-being. Yet, stark differences in the healthcare experiences (e.g., healthcare access, referral, and utilization) based upon gender, race, ethnicity, and social stratification are well described. In their studies on physician pain management, Green et al. demonstrated physician variability in pain management decision-making based [...]

Healthcare Utilization Healthcare Sources: The majority of the participants (89%) reported having a primary care physician. Although not significant, African Americans were less likely to have a regular primary care physician compared to Caucasian Americans (87% versus 91%). The African Americans were more likely to use the emergency room as a regular source for healthcare [...]

Demographic Characteristics Complete responses were obtained from 46% of the sample (N=286). Data obtained from racial and ethnic persons who did not identify themselves as either African American or Caucasian American (n=8) and those subjects who did not provide racial or ethnic information (N=41) were not analyzed. The final sample analyzed included self-identified African- or [...]

METHODS The University of Michigan Health System Institutional Review Board (IRB) provided human subjects approval for this study. A prospective cross-sectional design with survey methodology was used to compare the healthcare experiences of African- and Caucasian Americans with chronic pain presenting to the Multidisciplinary Pain Cen­ter (MPC) at the University of Michigan.

INTRODUCTION Significant advances have been made in facilitating health and in preventing disease. Despite medical advances that have resulted in increased longevity for Americans, there are data that contin­ue to suggest that the overall health for racial and ethnic minorities is poorer than that for Caucasian Americans. Emerging studies continue to document disturbing differences in [...]