Background: Racial/ethnic minorities are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage of colorectal cancer (CRC). Therefore, our objective was to identify whether racial/ethnic differences in patient experiences (PE) with health care are associated with stage at CRC diagnosis.
Methods: The authors used the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry data linked with the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems to conduct a retrospective cohort analysis. They examined composite measures from surveys to assess 3 domains: patient-centeredness, timeliness, and realized access. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the association between PE with care and earlier stage at diagnosis.
Results: Of the 9211 patients, 31.1% non-Hispanic White, 27.2% non-Hispanic Black (NHB), 32.3% Hispanic, and 36.4% Asian were diagnosed with early stage cancer. Compared with non-Hispanic White patients, for the timeliness domain, Hispanic [β=-2.82; 95% confidence interval (CI), -5.42 to -0.39] and Asian (β=-6.65; 95% CI, -9.44 to -3.87) patients had significant lower adjusted mean score for getting care quickly. For the realized access domain, Asian (β=-5.78; 95% CI, -8.51 to -3.05) and NHB patients (β=-3.18; 95% CI, -5.50 to -0.87) had significantly lower adjusted mean score for getting needed prescription drugs compared with non-Hispanic White patients. Among NHB patients, a 5-Unit increase in getting needed care quickly was associated with higher odds of earlier CRC stage at diagnosis (odds ratio, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.10).
Conclusion: There are racial/ethnic disparities in PE with timeliness and realized access to care preceding a CRC diagnosis. Among NHB patients, poor experiences with timeliness and realized access of care may be associated with later stage at diagnosis.
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