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Activity Number:
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289
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Type:
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Contributed
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Date/Time:
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Tuesday, August 5, 2003 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
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Sponsor:
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Section on Health Policy Statistics
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| Abstract - #300873 |
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Title:
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Understanding the Factors Underlying Disparities in Cancer Screening Rates Between Race/Ethnic and Gender Groups: The Peters-Belson Approach
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Author(s):
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Sowmya R. Rao*+ and Barry I. Graubard and Joseph L. Gastwirth
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Companies:
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National Institute of Health and National Cancer Institute and George Washington University
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Address:
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5110 Parklawn Terrace, Rockville, MD, 20852-5224,
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Keywords:
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disparity ; cancer screening ; Peters-Belson
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Abstract:
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The traditional approach to measuring the effect of disparities by race/ethnic groups includes a categorical variable indicating race/ethnicity in a logistic regression model. The coefficient of this variable measures the disparity. We utilize the Peters-Belson (PB) method to measure disparity in cancer screening rates using the 1998 National Health Interview Survey. The disparity in cancer screening rates are decomposed into a component due to differences in the covariates in the two groups and a component due to unmeasured covariates. The PB approach fits a regression model to the majority group and estimates the expected value a minority individual would have from this equation. The average difference between observed and expected values for the minority numbers estimates the disparity not explained by the covariates. We found that among both men and women, most of the disparity in colorectal cancer screening and digital rectal exam rates between whites and blacks was explained by the covariates but the same was not true for the disparity between whites and Hispanics. A comparison of the PB method to other traditional methods will also be presented.
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