Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Multimorbidity in Emergency Department Visits: A Latent Class Analysis by Intellectual and Developmental Disability Status in the United States.
Black adults with intellectual and developmental disability had highest odds of complex chronic disease
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Multimorbidity in Emergency Department Visits: A Latent Class Analysis by Intellectual and Developmental Disability Status in the United States.
Multiple chronic conditions (multiple chronic conditions) impose a substantial burden on emergency department (emergency department) systems in the United States, yet little is known about how patterns of chronic disease co-occurrence differ at the intersection of intellectual and developmental disability (intellectual and developmental disability) status and race/ethnicity.
This study aimed to identify distinct latent classes of chronic condition patterns among emergency department patients and to examine the likelihood of class membership across intellectual and developmental disability and racial/ethnic subgroups.
Using the 2020 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Emergency Department Sample), we conducted a latent class analysis (latent class analysis) of 20 chronic conditions among adults aged 18-64 with and without intellectual and developmental disability.
Black adults with intellectual and developmental disability had the highest odds of complex chronic disease
Five latent classes emerged: Minimal Disease (38.9%), Cardiometabolic (26.8%), Mental Health-Chronic Pain (16.2%), Cardiovascular-Renal (12.1%), and Complex Condition (CHC) (6.0%).
All intellectual and developmental disability groups, regardless of race/ethnicity, had significantly higher odds of presenting with Complex Condition compared to White non-intellectual and developmental disability adults.
Adults with intellectual and developmental disability, particularly those from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, demonstrate markedly elevated odds of presenting to the emergency department with complex, multisystem chronic disease profiles compared to White non-intellectual and developmental disability adults.
These findings underscore the need for integrated, intersectionally informed chronic disease management in emergency department settings and highlight critical gaps in primary and preventive care access for adults with intellectual and developmental disability from marginalized racial/ethnic groups.