Inequitable access to health care for Aboriginal people with kidney disease

Status Aboriginal people with severe kidney disease were 43% less likely than non-Aboriginal people to visit a nephrologist, found a study of 107,693 people in Alberta, Canada http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1007.pdf. Aboriginal people with chronic kidney disease were also almost twice as likely to be admitted to hospital for a condition that may have been preventable with appropriate outpatient care. "Given the increased mortality among patients with a late referral to a nephrologist, these results suggest suboptimal quality of care in the Aboriginal population and the need for interventions to reduce or eliminate these disparities," state Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn and researchers from the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta and Alberta Health and Wellness.

In a related commentary by Australian-based researchers, Prof. Alan Cass, from The George Institute and the University of Sydney, and coauthors write that findings are similar in Australia and New Zealand, two countries with significant Aboriginal populations http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg985.pdf. They write that understanding the barriers to health care can help address some of the inequities.

"To close these gaps, we need to not only document disparities but also understand their causes more precisely and make collaborative changes," write the authors. "Such change is often resisted by institutional, political, structural, social and cultural forces."

Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal