Beyond race: Impacts of non-racial perceived discrimination on health access and outcomes in New York City

BACKGROUND: I investigate the association of perceived discrimination based both on race and other attributes such as age, gender, and insurance status on self-reported health access and health outcomes in a diverse and densely populated metropolitan area. METHODS: Restricted data from the 2016 round of the New York City Community Health Survey was used to create prevalence estimates for both racial and non-racial discrimination. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of these discrimination measures with health access and health outcome variables. RESULTS: Among residents who perceived discrimination receiving health care during the previous year, 15% reported the reason behind such discrimination to race, while the rest chose other reasons. Among the non-race based categories, 34% reported the reason behind such discrimination to be insurance status, followed by other reasons (26.83%) and income (11.76%). Non-racial discrimination was significantly associated with the adjusted odds of not receiving care when needed (AOR = 6.96; CI: [5.00 9.70]), and seeking informal care (AOR = 2.24; CI: [1.13 4.48] respectively, after adjusting for insurance status, age, gender, marital status, race/ethnicity, nativity, and poverty. It was also associated with higher adjusted odds of reporting poor health (AOR = 2.49; CI: [1.65 3.75]) and being diagnosed with hypertension (AOR = 1.75; CI: [1.21 2.52]), and diabetes (AOR = 1.84; CI: [1.22 2.77]) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived discrimination in health care exists in multiple forms. Non-racial discrimination was strongly associated with worse health access and outcomes, and such experiences may contribute to health disparities between different socioeconomic groups.