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Commentary on diagnosis and treatment patterns of Peyronie’s disease among different racial, ethnic, and regional groups in the Veterans Affairs health care system

International Journal of Impotence Research (2023)Cite this article

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Access to quality healthcare is an important topic that has, thankfully, gained significant traction in the peer-reviewed research space over the last decade or so. However, very little work has been carried out within our field of sexual medicine to evaluate the impact of race and ethnicity on patient evaluation and treatment-related outcomes. In their manuscript from this month’s edition of International Journal of Impotence Research, Nackeeran et al sought to characterize differences in diagnosis and treatment patterns for Peyronie’s Disease (PD) based on race/ethnicity and geographic location for patients treated at the United States (US) Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care system [1]. The VA is the largest integrative healthcare system in the US, with complete coverage for general primary healthcare and specialty care for veterans of the US armed forces who meet specified criteria [2]. The VA system includes over 1,000 healthcare facilities and over 170 medical centers. Needless to say, this is a large and complex healthcare organization, and given that the VA uses a large integrated medical record, there is some real potential to glean important information about healthcare access and deliver. In their manuscript, Nackeeran et al hypothesized that more equitable care access, particularly when compared to other systems that rely on alternative forms of healthcare coverage, would impact diagnosis and treatment related outcomes based on racial/ethnic and regional factors [1].

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References

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  1. Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Matthew Ziegelmann

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  1. Matthew Ziegelmann
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Correspondence to Matthew Ziegelmann.

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Ziegelmann, M. Commentary on diagnosis and treatment patterns of Peyronie’s disease among different racial, ethnic, and regional groups in the Veterans Affairs health care system. Int J Impot Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-023-00683-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-023-00683-8

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