HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2008.154088v1 99/9/1659    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Wiltshire, J. C. Articles by Allison, J. J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wiltshire, J. C. Articles by Allison, J. J. Related Collections Access to Care Other Race/Ethnicity Socioeconomic Factors Women's Health

Jacqueline C. Wiltshire, PhD, MPH, Sharina D. Person, PhD, Catarina I. Kiefe, MD, PhD and Jeroan J. Allison, MD

Jacqueline C. Wiltshire is with the Institute of Public Health, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Florida A & M University, Tallahassee. Sharina D. Person, Catarina I. Kiefe, and Jeroan J. Allison are with the Division of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to Jacqueline C. Wiltshire, PhD, MPH, Institute of Public Health, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Florida A & M University, Frederick S. Humphries Science Research Center, 209-D, Tallahassee, FL 32301 (e-mail: jacqueline.wiltshire{at}famu.edu). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Objectives. We sought to disentangle the relationships between race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and unmet medical care needs.

Methods. Data from the 2003–2004 Community Tracking Study Household Survey were used to examine associations between unmet medical needs and SES among African American and White women.

Results. No significant racial/ethnic differences in unmet medical needs (24.8% of Whites, 25.9% of African Americans; P = .59) were detected in bivariate analyses. However, among women with 12 years of education or less, African Americans were less likely than were Whites to report unmet needs (odds ratio [OR] = 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.42, 0.79). Relative to African American women with 12 years of education or less, the odds of unmet needs were 1.69 (95% CI = 1.24, 2.31) and 2.18 (95% CI = 1.25, 3.82) among African American women with 13 to 15 years of education and 16 years of education or more, respectively. In contrast, the relationship between educational level and unmet needs was nonsignificant among White women.

Conclusions. Among African American women, the failure to recognize unmet medical needs is related to educational attainment and may be an important driver of health disparities, representing a fruitful area for future interventions.