Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U.S. Veteran Health Characteristics

Rachel E. Ward, Xuan-Mai T. Nguyen, Yanping Li, Emily M. Lord, Vanessa Lecky, Rebecca J. Song, Juan P. Casas, Kelly Cho, John Michael Gaziano, Kelly M. Harrington, Stacey B. Whitbourne and on behalf of the VA Million Veteran Program
Additional contact information
Rachel E. Ward: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Xuan-Mai T. Nguyen: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Yanping Li: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Emily M. Lord: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Vanessa Lecky: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Rebecca J. Song: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Juan P. Casas: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Kelly Cho: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
John Michael Gaziano: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Kelly M. Harrington: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
Stacey B. Whitbourne: Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
on behalf of the VA Million Veteran Program: Membership of the VA Million Veteran Program is provided in the Acknowledgments.

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: Racial/ethnic health disparities persist among veterans despite comparable access and quality of care. We describe racial/ethnic differences in self-reported health characteristics among 437,413 men and women (mean age (SD) = 64.5 (12.6), 91% men, 79% White) within the Million Veteran Program. The Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test and linear mixed models were used to compare age-standardized frequencies and means across race/ethnicity groups, stratified by gender. Black, Hispanic, and Other race men and women reported worse self-rated health, greater VA healthcare utilization, and more combat exposure than Whites. Compared to White men, Black and Other men reported more circulatory, musculoskeletal, mental health, and infectious disease conditions while Hispanic men reported fewer circulatory and more mental health, infectious disease, kidney, and neurological conditions. Compared to White women, Black women reported more circulatory and infectious disease conditions and Other women reported more infectious disease conditions. Smoking rates were higher among Black men, but lower for other minority groups compared to Whites. Minority groups were less likely to drink alcohol and had lower physical fitness than Whites. By identifying differences in burden of various health conditions and risk factors across different racial/ethnic groups, our findings can inform future studies and ultimately interventions addressing disparities.

Keywords: veterans; racial disparities; disease burden; healthcare utilization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2411/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2411/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2411-:d:508612

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().