Adherence to cardiac medications was lower in African Americans than whites in a health care system that provides low-cost access to both primary care and prescription medications. Our findings confirm previous reports of racial differences in adherence to medications and suggest that the difference is not solely the result of access problems. We also found [...]
During the 18-month period under study, 833 African-American (with 1342 medication records) and 4436 white (with 7452 medication records) veterans were eligible for inclusion in the study. Split by drug class, 392 African-American and 1985 white veterans were included in the ACEI analyses, 241 African-American and 1418 white veterans were included in the BB analyses, [...]
Adherence to medications is an important predictor of positive clinical outcomes. Poor adherence to medications not only results in poor outcomes, but is associated with greater health care costs. Indeed, inadequate adherence to medications has been cited as a major reason for poor control of hypertension. Adherence to medications has been linked to socio-economic factors, [...]
Results from the study suggest that in this population of African-American adults, older participants, women, those with higher socioeconomic status and those who were physically active tended to report better dietary patterns. These findings were not explained by age and sex differences.
Characteristics of the Study Sample
The 2,172 African-American participants in Project DIRECT were predominately female (62%) and had a mean age of 46 years (see Table 1). About 38% of participants were currently married, and the majority were employed (61%). Most participants had completed high school (>70%) and about one-third had yearly incomes >$25,000.
Data Source and Study Population
We analyzed data from the baseline assessment of Project DIRECT (Diabetes Interventions Reaching and Educating Communities Together); methods are described in detail elsewhere. Briefly, a baseline assessment was conducted in 1997 using a multistage, population-based probability sample from U.S. census files in predominately African-American neighborhoods in Raleigh and Greensboro, NC. Trained [...]
African Americans are disproportionately affected by obesity and obesity-related diseases, which are related, in part, to dietary factors. Nonetheless, studies evaluating dietary patterns among this population have been limited.
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