Why the study?
It was unknown whether racial and socio-economic disparities in the utilization of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease have improved over time.
Are there persistent racial and socio-economic disparities in the utilization of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease?
Are there persistent racial and socio-economic disparities in the utilization of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease?
Despite increasing overall utilization of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease, Black patients remain approximately five times less likely to receive the therapy compared to White patients.
Persistent racial disparities in DBS access for PD warrant attention; leaves open whether unmeasured factors drive gaps in this observational analysis.
We sought to determine whether racial and socio-economic disparities in the utilization of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s disease (PD) have improved over time. We examined DBS utilization and analyzed factors associated with placement of DBS. The odds of DBS placement increased across the study period while White PD patients were 5 times more likely than Black patients to undergo DBS. Individuals, regardless of racial background, with two or more comorbidities were 14 times less likely to undergo DBS. Privately insured patients were 1.6 times more likely to undergo DBS. Despite increasing DBS utilization, significant disparities persist in access to DBS.
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Cramer et al. (2022) studied this question.
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