This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Racial minorities in the United States receive poorer quality health care and have poorer health outcomes than do nonminorities.1 Differences in economic status and health insurance rates explain some but not all of the disparities in quality of care. There is no evidence that racial differences in health care quality and outcomes are caused by inherent differences in disease or in response to treatment.2
In this issue of Neurology, Burneo et al.3 present a study of seizure surgery among blacks and whites discharged from the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital after video-EEG monitoring between 1998 and 2000. They studied 130 patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy caused by mesial temporal lobe sclerosis. Using multivariate analyses that accounted for socioeconomic status, the authors demonstrated that race is independently associated with a lower likelihood of epilepsy surgery. The results of this study concur with those of others investigating disparities in the use of surgical procedures.1
Why would black patients referred to the same center with the same diagnosis have a lower likelihood of undergoing epilepsy surgery? Patient and physician factors …
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
