Black and Deaf or Hard of Hearing Patients Face Dermatologic and Health Disparities

Mediteraneo/Adobe Stock Black and deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) patients face overlapping and similar barriers to health care, including dermatologic care, according to a poster from the 2023 Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis (RAD) Virtual Conference on December 10. Study authors Diamond R. Guy, BS, and Jason M. Rotoli, MD, sought to review health disparities faced by Black DHH patients, compare health outcomes between these patient populations, and examine the experiences faced by persons of color (POC) and DHH patients when seeking health care, specifically dermatologic care. They noted that there is currently a lack of census data quantifying the number of Black DHH patients living in the US. This, they said, has made it difficult to further explore disparities in health care. The review employed the use of databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar to pull research related to the experiences, outcomes, and disparities faced by members of the Black and/or DHH communities. Key search terms included “deaf or hard of hearing,” “Black population,” “health disparities,” “dermatological care,” and “outcomes.” Any articles containing irrelevant findings, commentaries, and case reports/series, as well as duplicate articles or articles not published in English, were excluded from review. In total, the review amassed...