Hello. I am Stephen M. Strakowski, professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, where I also serve as senior vice president in the affiliated health system, University of Cincinnati Health. Today I want to talk to you about a health disparity that has been around in psychiatry for many years and then think about ways we might address it and manage it in our clinical practices. It has been recognized for 50 or maybe even 60 years now that in clinical settings, African American patients are significantly more likely than otherwise similar white patients to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. In fact, the rates of schizophrenia can be nine times higher in a comparable group of African American patients compared with white patients, suggesting that there may be misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. We have explored this for the last 20 years to try to better understand it because from epidemiologic studies, we would expect the rates of diagnosis of schizophrenia across different racial and ethnic groups in the United States to be relatively similar in clinical settings; and, in fact, that is not what is commonly observed.
Potential Contributing Factors
There are a lot of different reasons why this might be happening.
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COMMENTARY
Racial Disparity in Mental Illness: Advice for Clinicians
Stephen M. Strakowski, MD, PhD
DisclosuresJuly 02, 2015
Hello. I am Stephen M. Strakowski, professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, where I also serve as senior vice president in the affiliated health system, University of Cincinnati Health. Today I want to talk to you about a health disparity that has been around in psychiatry for many years and then think about ways we might address it and manage it in our clinical practices. It has been recognized for 50 or maybe even 60 years now that in clinical settings, African American patients are significantly more likely than otherwise similar white patients to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. In fact, the rates of schizophrenia can be nine times higher in a comparable group of African American patients compared with white patients, suggesting that there may be misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. We have explored this for the last 20 years to try to better understand it because from epidemiologic studies, we would expect the rates of diagnosis of schizophrenia across different racial and ethnic groups in the United States to be relatively similar in clinical settings; and, in fact, that is not what is commonly observed.
Potential Contributing Factors
There are a lot of different reasons why this might be happening.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Racial Disparity in Mental Illness: Advice for Clinicians - Medscape - Jul 02, 2015.
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Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author
Stephen M. Strakowski, MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Psychology, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; Senior Vice President, Strategy and Transformation, University of Cincinnati Health, Cincinnati, Ohio
Disclosure: Stephen M. Strakowski, MD, PhD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Serve(d) as a director, officer, partner, employee, advisor, consultant, or trustee for: Roche; Procter & Gamble; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Sunovion
Received income in an amount equal to or greater than $250 from: Roche; Procter & Gamble; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Sunovion; Oxford University Press Author: Oxford University Press