TABLE 4.
Crude and Adjusted Odds Ratios (ORs) of Perceived Racial Discrimination in Health Care Among Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System Users and Nonusers: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2004
| Reported Discrimination, % |
Crude ORa (95% CI) |
Adjusted ORb (95% CI) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| VA health care utilization | |||
| VA user | 5.4 | 2.08 (1.04, 4.18) | 1.30 (0.54, 3.13) |
| VA nonuser (Ref) | 2.7 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Race/ethnicity | |||
| White (Ref) | 1.6 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Hispanic | 3.0 | 1.93 (0.48, 7.73) | 1.43 (0.25, 8.23) |
| African American | 13.0 | 9.23 (5.26, 16.20) | 4.33 (1.70, 11.0) |
| Racial saliencec | |||
| ≤Once a mo (Ref) | 2.0 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Once a wk | 4.1 | 2.11 (0.80, 5.56) | 1.43 (0.30, 6.67) |
| ≥Once a d | 11.5 | 6.46 (3.67, 11.39) | 2.57 (1.02, 6.49) |
| Gender | |||
| Women (Ref) | 3.1 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Men | 3.1 | 0.98 (0.42, 2.29) | 2.10 (0.56, 7.90) |
| Age, y | |||
| 18−24 | 7.3 | 4.70 (0.59, 37.45) | |
| 25−34 | 6.8 | 4.31 (1.69, 10.98) | 4.21 (1.12, 15.9) |
| 35−44 | 3.1 | 1.88 (0.85, 4.18) | 1.81 (0.66, 4.96) |
| 45−54 | 3.3 | 2.05 (1.02, 4.12) | 1.90 (0.72, 4.99) |
| 55−64 | 3.2 | 1.96 (1.03, 3.73) | 1.93 (0.77, 4.85) |
| ≥65 (Ref) | 1.7 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Income, $ | |||
| < 15 000 | 9.0 | 6.40 (2.77, 14.78) | 3.55 (1.26, 10.0) |
| 15 000−24 999 | 4.3 | 2.93 (1.32, 6.47) | 1.33 (0.47, 3.76) |
| 25 000−34 999 | 3.4 | 2.28 (1.00, 5.20) | 1.81 (0.70, 4.68) |
| 35 000−49 999 | 2.6 | 1.71 (0.72, 4.09) | 1.21 (0.45, 3.25) |
| > 50 000 (Ref) | 1.5 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Education | |||
| < High school | 2.9 | 1.56 (0.55, 4.44) | 0.83 (0.17, 3.96) |
| High school graduate | 4.2 | 2.33 (1.22, 4.44) | 1.83 (0.78, 4.29) |
| Some college | 3.3 | 1.82 (0.91, 3.65) | 1.26 (0.49, 3.24) |
| College degree (Ref) | 1.9 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Health care coverage | |||
| Yes (Ref) | 2.6 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| No | 8.5 | 3.55 (1.79, 7.01) | 0.85 (0.37, 1.93) |
| Cost of medical care prohibitive in past 12 mo | |||
| No (Ref) | 2.4 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Yes | 9.9 | 4.44 (2.47, 7.99) | 1.82 (0.77, 4.33) |
| Health status | |||
| Excellent, very good, or good (Ref) | 2.4 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Fair or poor | 6.2 | 2.64 (1.61, 4.34) | 1.66 (0.81, 3.38) |
Note. CI = confidence interval. Ellipsis indicates too few respondents with complete data to estimate in adjusted model.
a
Unadjusted ORs reflect the bivariate associations between perceived discrimination and each variable (weighted n = 1 727 967).
b
Adjusted ORs reflect the association between perceived discrimination and each variable, after adjustment for all the other variables. State was included as an additional covariate in the adjusted model (weighted n = 1 293 909).
c
Defined as frequency of thoughts about one's own race.