Nber Working Paper Series Beware of Unawareness: Racial/ethnic Disparities in Awareness of Chronic Diseases

This paper studies racial/ethnic disparities in awareness of chronic diseases using biomarker data from the 2006 HRS. We estimate a 3-step sequential probit model which accounts for selection into: (1) participating in biomarker collection; (2) having illness (hypertension or diabetes); (3) being aware of illness. Contrary to studies reporting that African-Americans are more aware of having hypertension than non-Latino whites, we do not find this conclusion holds after self-selection and severity are considered. Likewise, African-Americans and Latinos are less aware of having diabetes compared to non-Latino whites. Disparities in unawareness are exacerbated when we limit the sample to untreated respondents. Pinka Chatterji State University of New York at Albany Economics Department 1400 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12222 and NBER [email protected] Heesoo Joo State University of New York at Albany Economics Department 1400 Washington Avenue Albany NY 12222 [email protected] Kajal Lahiri State University of New York at Albany Economics Department 1400 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12222 [email protected]