Race a factor in diabetes amputation

A recent study indicates that black people are more likely to undergo a leg amputation due to diabetes complications than white people. Blacks were also found to be less likely to take breast cancer and diabetes screening tests.
A professor at Dartmouth Medical School, who led that study, Elliott Fisher, reportedly commented: “There are remarkable disparities between blacks and whites and between communities.”
The team used Medicare data to investigate amputation and screening rates throughout America. The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundatio, a philanthropy that backs efforts to make changes to health care.
John Buse of the ADA reportedly commented: “Once someone with modest resources and no health insurance becomes acutely ill or disabled, they can generally get Medicare or Medicaid. But often the price of admission for a patient with diabetes is a serious complication like blindness, kidney failure, amputation or stroke.”