Aetna News Release - Study Will Determine Whether Race is a Factor in How African American Experience Chronic Pain and Whether a Disparity in Treatment Exists
ANN ARBOR, March - 2002 Aetna and the Aetna Foundation have awarded! $149,997 research grant to the University of Michigan for the purpose of comparing the impact of chronic pain on the health of African Americans and Caucasian Americans. The study will explore the impact of race/ethnicity on chronic pain, while documenting the existence of a “health disparity gap” in how chronic pain is managed for different populations.
|
Terry Gordon, MD, MBA presenting the research award to Carmen R. Green, MD |
This is the first time medical researchers have examined the existence of a “health disparity gap” stemming from the implications of chronic pain. According to Principal Investigator Carmen Renee Green, M.D. with the University of Michigan Hospital’s Pain Management Clinic, “chronic pain has a significant impact on an individual’s health status and quality of life, and African Americans may experience more impairment than other groups.” “African Americans suffering from chronic pain appear at our clinic with more severe symptoms, more depression and more physical disability than Caucasian patients,” she said.
“Our goal with this research is to document the disparity, then explore the reasons why,” Dr. Green added. “I suspect differences in overall health status are contributing factors, but I also suspect chronic pain in African Americans is not treated as aggressively as it should be,” she said.
“The racial divide in health care isnothing new. Indeed, its tong and stubborn entrenchment is one of its more disturbing characteristics,” said Terry Gordon, M.D., network medical director for Aetna in Michigan. “Eliminating the divide in quality is an immense challenge, but research like Dr. Green’s will help lead us to solutions. Aetna is committed tobeing a partner in that process,” he said.
The University of Michigan grant is part of more than $850,000 in research grants awarded this year through the Academic Medicine and Managed Care Forum’s Quality Care Research Fund for projects that identify and test practical means of reducing or eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health status and the delivery of health care. In the last five years, more than $30 million in grants has been dispersed through this Fund.
