Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Improving IV Insulin Administration in a Community Hospital
Published on: June 11, 2012
Economic and clinical disparities in hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes
Marsha A Dowell1, Billie Rozell, David Roth
1College of Nursing, University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL, USA. dowellm@uah.edu
Purpose:
To identify and describe economic and clinical relationships and trends associated with selected access, equity, and outcome characteristics of a large inpatient population with Type 2 diabetes.
Design:
Longitudinal, descriptive cross-sectional study with secondary analyses of data about 101,944 patients in hospitals in the United States (US), 40 years of age and older with a primary diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes from the Health Care Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP-3) database for 1994-1997.
Methods:
Descriptive analysis, hierarchical, random-effects regression modeling, and contrasts between covariate-adjusted means. Hospital charge data were highly skewed in a positive direction requiring a logarithmic transformation. Variables for the study included both hospital and patient characteristics.
Findings:
Significant racial and sex disparities were found in health care access, equity, and outcomes, with equity characteristics showing alarming disparities in types of procedures (amputations and peripheral vascular bypass grafts) performed, lengths of stay, and dispositions.
Conclusions:
Disparities in health care access, equity, and outcomes continue to exist on the basis of sex, ethnicity, and age as well as the type and location of the hospital. Access and equity are values that, despite rhetoric in relation to health care utilization, have not been systematically attained.
Related Concept Videos
Type II Diabetes Mellitus III: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnosis
Type I Diabetes III: Clinical Manifestations
Type II Diabetes II: Pathophysiology
Diabetes Mellitus: Type 2 and Gestational
Type II Diabetes I: Introduction
Diabetes Mellitus: Overview and Type I Subtype
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. As a result, the body is unable to produce sufficient insulin, and individuals with...